Forever: The Siren & The Prince
by FireLilly05
Summary: After thinking they'd seen Siren at the top of hill at the heart of Erevan Forest on the Old Islands; Atem and Yugi begin a search for their friend. After a year, Yugi eventually gives up but Atem cannot end the search for the one he loves. Could it have been her and, if yes, why had she never shown herself? The sequel to Forever: The Mission plz readit first Disclaimer see profile
1. Prologue

_Preview_

Year 2125-Narrator:

Atem is now 28 years old. After the death of his most beloved, Siren, he nearly went mad. Her death was followed by three suicide attempts by Atem, all failed due to his brother, Yugi. Yugi has had 2 children with his wife Rebecca, Jaden and Rose. Atem and Yugi thought they'd seen Siren a year ago at the crest of the hill in the centre of Erevan forest. They then began a search for the girl.

It's now been a year that they've been searching and Yugi has given up but Atem is relentless in his search for the girl he loves. Hamthar, Siren's father and billionaire owner of Magnesius Corporation is fighting the Governments of the Nation at every turn possible. He's trying to prevent World War Three and has a secret to share with Atem that may assist in both saving humanity and finding Siren.

The possibility of a War and a recent food shortage has put everyone on edge. People are fighting amongst themselves and it looks like the world is sinking into the heart of the wild. Atem needs to use the information Hamthar is going to give him to save what's left of humanity and find his beloved.

The only sanity on the planet is found on Old Islands, named such because they were still using technology from the early 2000's. Here dwells Atem's and Siren's friends and family, their home. But this isn't the only thing on the island. The people know something incredible and it's of utmost importance that they share it.

Atem decides to hear Hamthar out and meets him in California 7 to discuss the idea.

So preview is done! YAY!


	2. Chapter 1: Information

Chapter 1: Information

Atem's P.O.V.:

I don't know why I'm doing this. I should be at home with Yugi and the others. I should be searching for Siren. But where else is there to look? Thoughts flooded my mind as I stepped into Magnesius Corporation's Headquarters. Things had become so different since four years ago when I had come back with a woman that would be used to destroy the other companies.

I pushed the thought out of my mind. It would only lead up to the moment of losing her and I didn't need to experience that again. My whole life shattered in one heart wrenching moment. Living with Yugi and the others on the Island had made me drop my training unless on a mission. People actually greeted me when I was at Magnesius Corporation.

I went straight to his office not even sparing a minute to look into what once was my corridor on the way. I found Hamthar sitting at his desk. There were dark circles under his eyes and my heart softened at the sight. He may have been the cause of her "death" but he was still like a father to me.

I went to his side and knelt, taking his hand, "Are you well?"

"I will survive. The governments grow ever harder to discourage. Any luck with the search?"

"None; the trail keeps leading me into thin air. My room; the nature preserve; the centre of the Forest. I keep coming up blank."

Hamthar nodded, "I have something here. A hooded figure delivered it to me a month ago. Nobody saw him enter or leave but for me. Read it."

I took the letter and read it aloud:

_"In the land of the Old Islands lays your key_

_To an answer shrouded in uncertainty._

_The one you seek knows the truth of the world's main roots._

_Find her you must, for only then,_

_Will you save mankind from bitter end._

_However, you must make haste;_

_She awaits her lover's warm embrace._

_Her people were always aware;_

_Your journey must begin there."_

My cheeks were probably redder than the rising sun but I didn't care. Here was a clue to Siren's whereabouts. Here was proof that she still lived. But something was out of place, "What am I missing?"

"A secret older than even the vampires," Hamthar said. "Listen closely Atem. The vampires are from a land in a universe running parallel to this one. We, the magic wielders are from that world; as are all things extraordinary. People came from there to this world and that is where we must go when the first bomb is fired."

Hamthar spread his arm, "I am returning to the Islands with you. We can continue looking from there with the aid of the others. Also, I believe it is time for you to tell everyone what you and Yugi were doing so that you know she is alive."

"What do you mean, 'that I know she's alive'?" I asked in confusion.

"I meant so that they know that you know she's alive. Remember that they are oblivious to what you and Yugi witnessed. They need to hear that it's where she must have gone."

I nodded, understanding colouring my mind. "When do we leave?"

He smiled at me, "Tomorrow morning in my Private Jet."

I stood and headed for the door. Suddenly I paused and wheeled around to see him smiling wryly, "Did you say 'when the first BOMB is fired'?"

Hamthar nodded solemnly, "A nuclear war is about to break lose on Earth. We must evacuate the vampires, werewolves, elementals and people of the Old Islands before it happens."

I went to my floor and stood in front of my apartment doors and took a deep, calming breath before entering. I avoided the bedroom and reflected on what had been said. I had learnt that there was another world where supernatural beings came from, that Siren was in that world and that the people on the Old Isles knew how to get there. I also learned that the Governments were going to destroy this world.

Why was life always so complicated and fraught with peril?

It has been forever people but i finally managed to get back into my fanfiction account! YAY! Now, the next thing... uploading the doc. which must've worked coz you're reading it (Yes you, lovely person). Comment if you can, if not plz spread the word. J Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 2: Strangers in the Dark

Chapter 2: Strangers in the Dark

Atem's P.O.V.:

Commotion in my bedroom woke me in the middle of the night. I had fallen asleep on the couch so as to avoid going into the room but now there was light coming from the crack beneath the door. I sat up and walked across the hall. I paused outside the door, inhaled and pushed the door open.

A knife hit the wall next to me and a blast of energy rammed me but my shields were already up. I sent forth a surge of fire and somebody yelled. It was quiet, and then I was being flung backwards and into the back of the couch. My chest was burning but it didn't hinder me when I jumped at whoever was running past at that moment.

He hit the floor with a loud thump. Sitting up I looked at the man lying face down on the floor, blood pouring from his front. We were both panting and we sat like that until 4 guards and Hamthar came into the room. Hamthar helped me up and the guards secured the intruder, who had fallen onto his knife. While I watched somebody else entered the room. I only noticed when she started dabbing at my chest with a strong smelling salve.

My hand came up instinctively to stop her from touching my chest. I looked down at the redhead and pushed her hand away. She smiled warmly at me and Hamthar said, "This is my new assistant. She has healing knowledge."

My eyes narrowed, "Not a doctor then?"

Hamthar smiled, "Not in that sense of the word."

She reached up again and, after a warning glance from Hamthar, I let her work. She took a long time to apply the salve to the wound and an even longer time to bandage it. When she was done she ran a finger across my bicep and it took all my will power not to hit her. I hated having women touch me now days. I felt it a betrayal of the last words I ever said to my beloved Siren. I wouldn't allow myself to sink to the level of perverseness I was at before. Besides, my girlfriend was still alive.

Hamthar saw my reaction and whispered to me, "You're going to have to loosen up."

"She's still alive," I shot back.

"My name's Lilly, by the way," the redhead said.

I nodded at her, "I'm sure you know who I am."

Lilly smiled, "You're Atem. You're Hamthar's best agent."

Hamthar smiled, "Don't flatter him. His head's big enough."

I smiled, "It's nice to meet you Lilly."

"Hehehe…" a voice rasped. "Forgetting your beloved so soon, eh, Thenos?"

"Guy's so drunk, can't even say my name right," I whispered.

Hamthar was staring into the corner wide eyed. "How do you know that name?" he asked dubiously.

The intruder laughed. "Didn' ya tellim is eritage?" he asked, his accent thick with blood.

I glared at Hamthar suspiciously. "What's he talking about?"

"That girl thinks she's so clever. Switching between worlds whenever we catch up to her," he said menacingly. "Too bad 'bout her weakness; her weakness for this 'un," he jerked his chin towards me.

"What do you mean?" Hamthar and I asked at once.

He laughed, "She's standing right behind ya!"

"Wrong!" a voice behind us said. We turned and saw Daren emerge from the shadows.

The intruder gagged. "She was here!"

Daren nodded, "She left after deflecting the knife you carelessly threw at Atem."

My heart raced. Siren and I had been in the same room and I hadn't known it. "Who's the 'we' and why are you after Siren?"

"We are the darklings that poison minds an' destroy light. The master wants the girl with the p – pow – powerrrr…" and he was gone.

I looked at Daren questioningly and he froze, realizing he had to explain himself. He sighed and said, "Well this is, uhm, awkward."

My face neutral, I said, "You used a portal to get here because you thought you'd find Siren here."

He looked at me, "Yes. You're not the only one that loves her."

I smirked, "I'm just the only one she loves back."

"So what're you going to do to me?"

"We're going to say farewell and see you on the Islands when you get there. We'll beat you there because this time no portals spell, you should know it takes 7-12 days to cool off."

He smiled, "Fare enough. See you around."

He left and the guards took the body away and Lilly was dismissed. I turned to Hamthar, "Explain."

"Huh…," he sighed. "Your family name is Moto, but your title is Thenos. It means 'Prince'. It is the name your parents brought with them when they came here. Oh, and your parents aren't dead. I was asked to tell you that. They went back to the other world and left you with me for training. Your uncle went with them and he sent Kisara to watch over you both. However, Kisara has become entangled in her feelings for Seto and hasn't been watching since she left."

I looked straight ahead of me. "Can't I trust you for anything?" I asked. "First it was the 'weapon', then Siren and now this!"

"I'm sorry but I do as I'm asked. I owed your parents that much. Honestly, I don't know how to explain to them your feelings for my daughter," he said distractedly.

I shook my head but instead asked, "Are we going to tell Seto and Kisara?"

Hamthar nodded, "Yes, I think we have to."

"Who do you think that man was?"

Hamthar spat, "Probably one of the darkness's lackeys."

"There it is again! The darkness; what exactly is it?" I asked. Hamthar went to my bookshelf and I said, "I've read all of them."

He shook his head, "No you haven't." He pressed a screw on the corner and it gave way. The shelf moved into the wall and was replaced by a wall with four sections holding a book each. "These will tell you about the darkness and the other world. We will leave once you've read them all."

With that he left the room. I took a deep breath and stood up. I took the first volume from the section and began reading.

All the while I couldn't shake the feeling that it would sink me back into my cold, heartless demeanour and it would be a long time before I came back out.

I hadn't realized that I was moving until my bedroom door shut behind me. I looked up from the book and pulled the handle. It was locked. I looked around the room and remembered the last time I had seen it. Movement in the corner caused me to revert to my training and crouched to face the new stranger in the dark.

Hey, I wanted to somehow bring back the whole Egypt thing, you know. The old and new molding really appealed to me. But tell me what you think.


	4. Chapter 3: Family History

Chapter 3: Family History

Atem's P.O.V.:

"Hello, Atem," a man's voice said.

"Merik," I growled in recognition.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" he asked innocently.

I snorted and straightened; the last time I'd seen Merik, he had been plotting against me with Eradan. "What do you want?"

"'just wanted to drop in on an old friend," he said with a grin. I scowled at him. "Don't you want to know about your family?" he asked.

I looked at him curiously. "What do you know?"

"More than that book will tell you…"

I glared at him, "Start talking."

He smirked at me. "Aren't you going to offer me a seat first?"

I gestured towards the couch against the opposite wall and he took a seat. I picked up a bookmark and slid it into place. I stared at the book then at the clock. I had already read just over half of the volume and it was only 2 hours since I had begun.

"What about something to eat or drink?" he asked.

"Don't push it Merik," I growled.

"Yeesh… alright, alright. No need to be grouchy," he replied.

Merik made himself comfortable and began, "You come from a long line of Fire elementals. Your ancestor was a great elemental that took pity on a shape shifter. Your father is the older of two sons of Deylan, King of Ethos, and Egypt of the Old World. Your mother is a healer, the youngest of three daughters of Sethra, Lady of the Eldwyn Lake. Theirs was an arranged marriage but they fell in love three years into it."

He smiled venomously, "The rest is all rather long and boring."

Atem shook his head, "Take your time, Merik. You're not going anywhere."

Merik smiled, "Of course. You are the son of Aknamkhanun and Maya, the King and Queen of Ethos. It is situated in the Old world exactly where Egypt is in this one. Your mother is the Daughter of the Nymph queen, Sethra. Your father is the son of Ethos's late king Deylan. You are their oldest son and the heir to the throne of Ethos should your father die. You and your brother were left in the care of Hamthar, another far descendant of an elemental. He was to train you in preparation for the day you returned to that world.

"He trained you. He was not to say a word about who you were and was not to interfere with the way you handled situations. He could correct and reprimand you afterwards but you were to make your own mistakes. Hamthar was to tell you that your family was dead so you would become strong and hard in preparation for anything you may come across.

"Yugi was given to a different family. They were nicer because he was supposed to act as your conscience; the lighter, happier side to your dark demeanour. You were to be completely opposite; in character and in thought. Even your powers were opposite to each other. Your parents loathed to part from you but they knew what was best for their children and decided in that way. They left and went back to the old world to manage the affairs of Ethos. They left knowing they'd never see their sons grow up."

Merik stopped to catch his breath and Atem asked, "What about Seto? What was my uncle thinking? And what about Hamthar?"

"Easy," Merik smiled. "I'm getting to it."

"Get to it faster," I egged.

Merik chuckled and continued his narrative, "Your uncle was thinking along more or less the same lines as your parents. The difference is that your cousin got a bit unlucky. He got Gozaboro and became a history worthy git. Hamthar knew all of this as he's no doubt told you. He was asked not to say anything."

I shook my head. My brain felt like an overflowing sponge. I couldn't absorb anymore but I needed to know more. "What can you tell me about the Old World?"

Merik sighed, "I'm not allowed to tell you everything. I was to tell you of your heritage if you planned on going into the Old World but the rest you'll have to read up on."

I turned over the half-finished volume in my hands and said, "What's your role in this Merik?"

Merik smiled, "It is merely my job to watch over you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be getting back."

I frowned, "Getting back to where?"

"To Ethos. Your father will expect me back by morning."

My father was expecting him. It sounded so odd to even think it. "Then get out already."

"Goodbye, my prince," Merik said, smiling at me. I turned to stare at him but he had already exited through the window.

My mind in turmoil, I sat on the bed and picked up the thick history book and continued reading.

Trying to get this account on par with the Quizzilla one . Hate quizilla it keeps giving me problems.


	5. Chapter 4: Reunions

Chapter 4: Reunions

Atem's P.O.V.:

I stared at the disappearing view of Business towers out of the plane windows. It's been a week since Merik revealed to me the secrets of my family. Since then, I'd read through the thick volumes of the old world histories and, after much persuasion, recruited the cooperation of my cousin, Seto Kaiba.

"How do we know we'll even find her?" Seto growled.

Mokuba sighed, "We don't but we might survive a nuclear war and find our parents."

Seto scowled, "Why should I care about them?"

Mokuba sighed and I shook my head sadly. Seto would sing a different tune when we actually found them. I glanced at his scowl again and re-assessed my conclusion. Perhaps he wouldn't. I shrugged at Mokuba as I met his sad gaze. He pointed at his brother and I shook my head. Nothing would change his mind right now.

I looked out the window and saw the KC helicopter and offered a small smile to the white haired girl inside as she waved to me.

"What are you smiling at?" Kaiba asked irritably.

"Your girlfriend," I said pointedly as I gestured to the window.

I saw Seto's gaze soften a bit before he continued to scowl at me. I met him with an emotionless stare and Mokuba laughed.

"Okay that's enough you two," Hamthar said, getting into his seat beside me. "We're landing soon so be good."-

Seto snorted and I winked at Mokuba and gave him a small smile. He grinned at me and I looked back out the window and watched the form of the Islands draw nearer. They grew steadily as we approached and the jet began to slow. Soon we had landed and I got up and stretched, Mokuba following my lead. I grabbed his backpack from the shelf and handed it to him before grabbing my satchel.

Lilly got a little too close and pressed against my side as I paused for her to go through to the bag rack, her hand touching my bicep as she reached for her bag.

"Sorry," she whispered with a smile, her hand brushing mines again.

"It's fine but…" I leaned close to her ear making her shiver and growled, "Don't try it again."

Her eyes widened as I straightened and fixed her with a glare, a blush spreading across her cheeks. I pushed passed her and Hamthar gave me a look that said, 'We'll talk later.' I nodded at him and rolled my eyes when he couldn't see my face.

As I came out of the plane I was greeted by familiar faces. Mrs Hale hugged me as I got down the last step and Yugi hugged me next, followed by Rebecca. Then Jaden jumped at me. I caught him mid-jump and placed him on my shoulders. My four year old nephew giggled and rested his head in my spikes as I kissed my 6 month old niece, Rose, on the head. She squeaked and rubbed her head, smiling then resumed blowing spit bubbles at her mother. I greeted the rest of Siren's friends and nodded my head at Duke Devlin, Serenity's husband and owner of a small company.

Rebecca giggled and I gave her a questioning look. She pointed and I turned to see Hamthar hesitantly hug Eleanor and, further in the background, Seto kissed Kisara. I sighed inwardly, feeling alone at this moment filled with happy couples but I didn't show it on the outside, instead reverting to my "cold-shoulder attitude" as Siren once called it. I stood there quietly, emotionlessly playing with my nephew (who thought it was a game to keep my face neutral and tried doing it too) as they exchanged pleasantries. Jaden pulled my hair and pointed. I glanced towards the place and saw 6 elderly men approaching us.

Everyone stopped talking as the men approached us. As they approached us it became clear that they were almost ancient. Two of them had hair that was greyish white and stringy and all their faces were pale and wrinkled and their eyes drooping and sad as if they had seen years of depression. They approached us slowly, 2 of them were hunched and 3 of them had walking sticks and another, with more blue grey hair than white, was being supported by a blue haired young woman that could've been his descendant.

They got within 5 meters of our line (by now we stood in a line with Hamthar in the centre and Seto and I flanking him). I looked down my side and saw Yugi, Rebecca, Joe, Mai and Daren. On Seto's side were Mrs Hale, Duke, Kisara, Thain and Angel. The kids were behind us with Serenity.

"So you have finally come," the one in the in green robe rasped.

"To escape the doom of the world," said the two grey-haired ones who looked like twins.

"To save those of us who do not belong," continued one that looked like the leader whose hair was still black.

"And find one who is lost and wishes not to be found," the younger looking of the 6 whispered. He looked at Hamthar when he said this and Hamthar returned the stare.

"To return to the home of our heritage and uncover the secrets of the world," the last and oldest one, who was being supported by the blue haired girl, whispered.

The young looking one glanced at his comrades before addressing Hamthar directly, "It has been a long time, child. I haven't heard from you much these past 10 years."

We all looked at Hamthar in shock as he smiled wryly at the old man, "I'm sorry, grandfather. I've been a bit busy." Hamthar glanced at me and I rolled my eyes at him.

Hamthar's grandfather smiled at him and nodded, "You've done an excellent job with him. Their parents will be proud with both of them." The man switched his gaze between Yugi and me.

"Welcome," rasped the green robed one. "Welcome, Hamthar son of Allaran son of Galleus Elda. Welcome Yugi and Atem Moto, sons of Aknamkhanun and Maya, Princes of Ethos."

Yugi looked shocked and I kept my empty gaze on the old man. "How do you - ?"

"They know all about it Atem," Hamthar said. "They are the oldest beings of the magical world. Daijun the shape-shifter, in green, Callan the Telepath and Koram the Conjurer, the warrior twins, Macarm, the Eldest, Galleus the Dragon-shifter, and Tearim the Elemental. They are the Ancients, the elders of magic and the most high esteemed of the Council of Magic."

"We shall meet you at the centre of the Erevan, where this world touches that one," they whispered and mist engulfed them. When the mist cleared, they were gone.


	6. Chapter 5: I've got your back

Chapter 5: I've got your back

Atem's P.O.V.:

I was living with Yug. That was the first thing we decided. We've been here for two weeks and were scheduled to meet with the Ancients today. I stretched and sighed. My heart fell as I observed the familiar room.

I was sleeping in Siren's room. It was still exactly the same as the last time that I sat here; same wall, floor, pictures and all. It was an untouched reminder of the person who once lit up this room and my life. My everything, my Siren.

We all woke and got ready. As an afterthought, I grabbed the leather collar off of my nightstand, remembering the way Siren's fingers would brush against my jaw line as she fastened the collar. I blinked away the thoughts and Yugi and I left for the clearing.

We talked little on our way there. I had filled him in on everything that I knew. He accepted it and said that he'd always had a feeling that he didn't really belong in this world. I nodded, understanding what he meant. Daren caught up with us and the three of us walked together to the clearing at the centre of the Erevan forest. I felt as if we were being watched for some reason and made sure to watch our backs using some sensory techniques that I learnt.

The aura was familiar and I almost figured it out when something suddenly erupted from the ground at the edge of the clearing. The three of us jumped back instinctively and Yugi and I sent fire and water techniques to create a fine layer of mist that we could hide in. Daren infused the mist with energy to hide our auras. I felt something creeping up behind me and in front of me, so I fired two fire-balls on either end before drawing a short sword that Hamthar had given me to parry a blow from the side.

As soon as the swords connected, I felt the presence of another, stronger force coming up behind me. I wouldn't make it to block the blow but it never came. Instead I heard it fall against another blade and a hooded figure appeared beside me.

"I've got your back."

My heart thumped in my chest but I gritted my teeth and concentrated on the problem at hand. The other person and I fought back to back. It felt almost like a dance that neither of us knew the right steps to but we were getting it right anyway. It felt perfect as each of our blows fell in motion beside the other. We swayed and parried not just the blows aimed at us but the blows aimed at the other as well. Our timing was perfect as if we'd rehearsed it; as if we knew exactly what the other was thinking.

Finally we stood facing the other's opponents. The stronger energy source was in front of me and the weaker one was behind.

"You sure you can handle him," she teased.

I smirked, "Oh, you bet I can."

I heard her laugh in almost vindictive pleasure and it sent chills up my spine. I took up a stance and got ready. I launched myself up and over the mist edge. I collected fire in my palms and shot it towards the shadow creature at the same time that my new companion did the same to the overgrown darkling. We both used shadow teleportation and sent wind to barrel into the flaming creatures.

The Darkling was down but the other one was standing. "I'll back you. I know that you've got this," she said taking up a defensive position beside me.

I nodded and took up the offensive. She pushed her hands deep into the muddy earth beneath us and the dirt lurched around the Shadow creature's feet. It struggled to move and I sprinted to the side as I shot fire onto its form. It growled and I sent a blast of thinly shaped air into it. It lifted its arm in an attempt to block the blow but the wind-knife cut it off, spraying black-green blood onto the ground. The earth hissed as the acidic blood touched the ground.

I quickly set fire to the stump that was spewing acidic blood, sealing it. I noticed that it seemed to be wearing a kind of armour and that had openings at the shoulders and knees and a helmet that left open a space for his eyes, which were sockets of fire. Of course that meant that the only way to kill it was a direct blow between the eyes where its thick, armour-like hide was showing. I gripped the sword tightly and ran at it.

The creature swung its other arm at me and I jumped onto it, using the arms as leverage. I needed to get high enough that the impact would cut through the hide. Then it did something I hadn't expected. It shot fire out of its eyes. I braced myself but a shield of water appeared in front of me and turned to steam as the fire collided with it. I saw my partner create a shard of ice in her hands and she flung it at the creature's shoulder where it stuck, then dissolved into a stream that trickled into the breast plate. She concentrated and vines burst from the armour, confusing the creature as my sword drove through its head, right between its eyes.

I felt the earth and vines engulf me and jerk me backwards as the acid poured from its head onto its face, melting the helmet and face. It screamed before dissolving into a pool of its own acidic blood. I hit the ground and immediately I felt the cooling sensation of water against my shoulder. I turned and watched as she tended my wound, using the water to quicken the healing. When she was done, she sighed in relief and plonked down on the ground beside me. Then I noticed that we were sitting on the only patch of moss in the damaged forest.

"Thanks for the save," I said with a smile.

She chuckled, "I told you that I've got your back."

I reached up under the hood and brought her face forward and all the relief and love and sadness that I'd been holding back burst through the gates as I kissed her. I poured as much emotion as I could into that kiss, trying to show her how crazy my life had been, trying to make her understand just how desperate I was to have her by me forever. She kissed me back passionately before pulling back to breath and lowering her hood. I hugged her close and she ran her fingers through my hair, soothing me as the tears fell from my eyes. I held her and breathed her name softly before kissing her again. We shared that moment before I spoke again.

"I thought…"

"Yeah I know, I thought so too. Galleus Elda saved me."

"He did what?"

"He's my great grandfather. He saved me but I don't know how. I only know that he saved me and that I've been training ever since," she said. "I was watching you always, though."

"Siren, I missed you," I whispered to her.

"I missed you too," Siren replied with a smile. "I love you."

"I love you too," I said, also smiling.

She kissed me again before pressing her hands onto the dirt and concentrating. Slowly, the mist dissipated and the green returned to the trees. The grass regrew and the forest was lush and peaceful again.

I shook my head, "You never cease to amaze."

Siren sighed warily and stood, pulling me up with her. "If I die a natural death, a huge forest like this one will appear as my power seeps into the ground. If not I'll cause a destructive explosion that'll start a 10 metre radius from my body and expand in a radius of 20km."

She said it so matter-of-factly that I shook my head at her and chuckled before taking her hand. She gave my hand a light squeeze and we walked towards the clearing, searching for Daren and Yugi. We found their auras in the clearing so we made our way there. Siren let go of my hand and pulled up her hood and mask. I entered the clearing without her and she entered from a tree top to the right of the clearing, nearest to Galleus. How the hell did she get there so fast?

He smiled at her and she stood by his side as I joined the line of my friends at Hamthar's side. Yugi and Daren entered from behind me and joined the ranks as well.

We were aligned the same way as the day we landed and it was a bit tense. I glanced once more at Siren out of the corner of my eyes and she gave a barely noticeable nod.

"I've got your back," she seemed to be saying.

I relaxed. She was near and I had her in plain view. That was enough to calm me. Besides, it was true: Siren always had my back.

The heroin has returned, ladies and gents. I hope some of you have transferred from my Quizilla ones. Quizilla isn't allowing my posts through for my stories or poems so this one is now officially ahead. Yay for all you Smarties who chose fanfiction! Plz fave and review!


	7. Chapter 6: The Ancients and the Secret

Chapter 6: The Ancients and the Secret

Siren's P.O.V.:

I wasn't going to reveal myself so soon but the fates are cruel sometimes and all our plans go up in flames and you feel like cursing so poor Hades bares your scorn. You may think I'm speaking gibberish but if you knew mythology like I do you'd understand. I mean, I was going to wait all this out at Great grandfather's side and make a big appearance when they brought the boys to Egypt to meet their parents. It was going to be this really big, super epic surprise that I'd had planned out for them. Now the darkness decided it wasn't going to let me do as I pleased and sent an adept creature to attack Atem.

How bloody annoying.

Not that I didn't take pleasure in watching the darkling lackey burn and in the way the ice shard slid perfectly through the opening in the armour and smoothly pierced its thick, iron-like hide. It was almost beautiful. I shook my head. That was my new psychotic side talking. It was like my Yin side but mostly I was the happy Yang side. Most of the time…

I still forgot to tell Atem that I'm an enchantress. I can cast spells using rhymes and occasionally I could infuse my words but that always happened by accident. It's really fun. So now I was standing here next to Galleus and watching my family and friends react to the situation. I saw Atem glance at me and I smiled and gave him a barely visible nod but I know that he saw it because he seemed to relax a bit. Okay, he got the message.

Weren't we just perfect for each other?

I watched Dad lean towards Atem. I let the breeze carry their voices to me and Rein shook her head at my eavesdropping. I rolled my eyes at her and listened.

"What happened?"

"We were attacked. Don't worry it was nothing too serious."

"But your arm –"

I saw Atem shrug, "Just a scar."

"Yugi?"

Yugi smiled and shrugged. I saw dad shake his head and sigh in defeat. Those brothers really were something else. They'd grown really close over the last few years.

"So you've come," whispered Tearim. He was the oldest, Rein's great, great grandfather, and his voice was low and wispy but he was powerful and the wind carried his voice over.

I saw Daren shiver and his eyes narrowed. Oh, oh, here comes trouble.

"What do you want with us?" he spat.

Shut up, idiot. Atem glared at him and dad smoothed it over. "Excuse my young, spontaneous friend. What is it that we were summoned here for, Great Ancients?"

"Your whelps should know better, Hamthar!" scowled Callan.

"But he is young and those of this world are ignorant in the ways of their kin. We must allow room for their errors," Macarm reasoned quietly, stealing a wink at me. "Besides, I can recall you being like that once."

I smiled. I really liked Macarm, he reminded me of my grandfather. He may have been the youngest but being human means you learn and grow, accepting change and making room for others' mistakes. It was something the others could not fully grasp, being too old and set in their ways. Rein, Kedan, Ethos and I were the young eyes and ears of the council. We were the youths who looked after the members. Only we were two members short. Macarm and Callan didn't have those supporting hands and while the four of us tried our hardest, we just couldn't stand Callan.

I looked up and realized that Daren was mouthing off again. I shut my eyes, concentrated on the tree behind Daren and a branch whapped him on the head. Atem pursed his lips in an attempt to not laugh at what he knew had been my way of shutting up my friend. I huffed and Galleus shook his head in amusement.

"He really does remind me of you, Callan," Macarm laughed.

Huh, never thought of that. Callan hadn't either. I exchanged a glance with Kedan before he suggested what we were all thinking, "Perhaps we should test him."

Galleus's eyes widened, not used to hearing any of the Carers speak in the presence of so many others. He looked at Macarm, whose eyes twinkled at the thought. He turned to Callan, "What do you think?"

Callan thought for a moment and shook his head. "No, it's too soon."

I frowned and recalled Galleus telling me of the girl who once tended Callan. She left for the dark side so we never mentioned her name. I sighed inwardly but I saw that Macarm still had that look in his eyes. The mischievous one that belonged to small boys playing pranks.

"Well, I believe we should get back to business," Daijun declared.

The Ancients nodded and the others all fell silent and attentive. Macarm gestured to the centre tree. Koram cast a spell on the branches as Tearim moved them apart and allowed a thin screen of ice to form between the spread branches. The images began to form.

"Long ago, when the world of magic was young, there arose two great warriors to rule the magical worlds." Macarm said as the form of a man clad in gold and a woman in pale pink played on the ice. They were both blonde and beautiful. "For decades they ruled the land together peacefully. One day, the sister met a man who bewitched her using her gullible, soft heart. Her brother found out and killed the man but the spell was cast and the sister fell into darkness. She fled, vowing revenge.

"The darkness began to grow from the island where she took refuge and the two siblings prepared for war with each other." The images grew outwards until it showed a world covered in light slowly being covered in darkness. "The sister's forces were stronger and they slowly overwhelmed the light. Eventually, brother and sister faced each other and the fight lasted days. During the hours he desperately attempted to reach his sister through the shadows in her heart but in the end he lost hope and…"

We waited with baited breath. "…the sister drove her sword through her brother's heart as he whispered how much he still loved her," Macarm said ominously. The others gasped and the aids said nothing. We already knew this. Macarm continued, "Her revenge complete, the sister was overcome by a torrent of emotions and, buried in sorrow over the loss of her 2most beloved people, her sanity snapped and the darkness turned her into its greatest leader. The strongest of the races formed a council and locked the darkness away behind a strong veil in another dimension. It was around this time that another world was discovered and some who wished for new beginnings were sent across to this world that was inhabited by the magicless and narrow-minded.

"Eons later the veil tore and the darkness poured into this world. It took shape and form and wreaked havoc. This world is collapsing into the darkness and it will soon destroy itself. We must evacuate everyone that we can within the month," he finished.

"A month?" Daren said incredulously.

"Yes, a month. My grandson and the young Prince have been investigating and it's been narrowed down to the month," Galleus answered, gesturing to Atem and dad.

Atem nodded, "That's the minimum. The maximum is half a year but we shouldn't push what we don't have."

Dad nodded and I sighed inwardly. Galleus Elda chuckled at what he knew I was thinking about, which was 'When can I get time to have lunch? I'm starving.'

"These youths who aid us have already begun the evacuation. There is only the masses here, on this Island left," Koram informed everyone.

"Who are these 'youths' anyway?" Daren interjected.

I smacked him with the branch again and Atem couldn't help but snicker this time. He swore under his breath and I shoved a block of dirt in his mouth. The entire clearing burst into laughter.

Galleus wiped a tear and Tearim wheezed a little. Macarm calmed himself and spoke, "Allow me to introduce Rein, Kedan, Ethos and Siren. They are our aids and also part of our families in some way or another."

I cursed under my breath and shot a look at Macarm Elda, who smiled and nodded at me. Rein waved when her name was said. Kedan smiled and nodded and Sthenos gave a sort of two fingered salute. When my name was said, I removed my mask and hood, causing everyone to gasp. I looked at my great grandfather and he nodded.

I breathed deeply and took a few steps forward, "Hey guys, how's it been?" though I knew exactly what they were up to

I was instantly attacked by my friends and family as they all raced to embrace me. My mother was first, then Yugi, then Daren, then the rest of them. Father hung back with Atem and, when the crowd backed off for a while I approached them. My dad looked me up and down nervously. I reached out my hand and he took a few steps backwards…

"Father..." I said nervously.

He shook his head and took another step back. Atem took my outstretched hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "He'll be fine. He just needs some time. He doesn't want to believe that you're really standing here. It'll be a while before he can fully accept it, especially since he technically killed you, if you can recall," Atem said. I didn't want to think about that. I wanted my dad to embrace me just as my grandfather and great grandfather did. Atem tugged my hand, "Don't rush him. Give him a little time."

I nodded and hugged him instead. I caressed his cheek and smiled widely. I gripped his hand and tugged him towards the Ancients, who were watching curiously. I pulled him towards Galleus Elda. "Atem this is Galleus Elda. He's my great grandfather. Grandfather, this is the one that I told you about," I said with a small blush. Sthenos's mouth dropped when I blushed and Rein shoved leaves inside.

Atem looked at Galleus and Great Grandfather looked him up and down critically. He stepped forward and put his hand on Atem's forehead. Atem remained still and allowed Galleus Elda to search his heart. When he was done, Great grandfather pulled his hand back and said, "You have endured much and learned more. I see the way she lit up your life. I trust you with my granddaughter but don't you dare hurt her."

Atem bowed his head low, knowing what my Grandfather had seen. I was curious, I wanted to know too! Atem then said, "I would never. I could never bring myself to. She is my everything and I shall never forsake her."

His voice was strong, confident, the voice of a real member of the Ethosian court. The Ancients looked at each other, approval in their eyes, and Great grandfather stepped forward and embraced Atem. I released the breath I'd been holding and turned to see Macarm Elda holding the blood Medallion to Daren's forehead, concentrating. Lord Callan was frowning over Macarm's head, the medallion still secured around his neck while Macarm searched Daren's blood line.

Callan Elda pulled the medallion and tucked it in his shirt whilst Macarm stood there looking satisfied and happy with himself. "He is my great, great grandson," Callan said quietly before turning to glare at Atem a bit.

Kedan smiled, "Then have we found you a Carer, Lord Callan Elda?"

Callan Elda did a minor double-take before nodding slowly, "I guess we have."

Kedan stepped forward and grasped Daren's hand. "I'm Kedan. I'm Koran Elda's Caretaker. Since you're related to Callan Elda, you must be like my second cousin or something."

Please, there should be at least the third cousin.

Daren nodded slowly and looked up at Callan Elda. I smiled and punched Daren's shoulder. "Welcome to the club Daren. Now we just need to find Macarm Elda a Carer and we'll be complete."

Macarm Elda laughed at me and I smiled widely. Callan Elda growled as Atem walked over and took my hand and I wondered what he might have seen in Daren's head.

Everyone mingled for a while before we all dispersed. Atem took my hand and we walked through the forest together, simply enjoying one another's company. I leaned against his shoulder and sighed in contentment. This was perfection to me.


	8. Information on the Characters

The Ancients listed according to age (oldest to youngest):

Tearim the Elemental – A Great Elemental able to control all elements. Pronounced 'Tear-rim', has blue-grey hair and uses a staff, normally supported by his great-great granddaughter, Rein has blue robes, enjoys peace and is the oldest and most compassionate. Caretaker: Rein – water elemental

Daijun the shape-shifter –A renowned shape-shifter, can imitate anyone with a strand of its/their hair perfectly (shape-shifters cannot normally imitate people). Pronounced 'Day-June', wears green robes and has no hair at all, walking stick. Caretaker: Sthenos - sorcerer

Callan the Telepath and Koram the Conjurer – Known as Warrior Duet or Warrior twins for their precision in co-ordinating their telekinesis and sorcery in battle. Any war they've been in has been successful except against Galleus in the Battle of the Medirrean [Me-di-reen] (river in Retalian). Greyish white hair, grumpy and pessimistic, slightly hunched Callan wears Grey robes and Koram wears Maroon robes and his staff. Caretakers: Kedan – tactician &amp; aura moulder, Daren - unknown

Galleus the Dragon-shifter – This is another great warrior and hero of my made-up magical parallel universe. His brother is King of Retalian and he is Hamthar's grandfather. Respected for his power, Galleus can transform part-way-half-way or fully into a great golden dragon and, effectively, can manipulate fire and air. He looks younger than Macarm. Still has brown hair as he is youngest after Macarm and normally wears brown or gold robes. Caretaker: Siren – elemental &amp; minor enchantress

Macarm, the Eldest – The oldest 'human' or non- magical being and effectively head of the Council of Magic, he was a great tactician back in the day and, despite not having magic, is highly respected by his magical peers. Pronounced 'Ma-car-m', has pitch black hair (despite his age, he's over 150) wears black robes. Currently no carer

Carers: Rein, Sthenos, Kedan, Daren, Siren, _

Carer Information in order of Ancient rank:

Rein: a water elemental, Great x4 granddaughter to Tearim Elementali. True to her roots, Rein is a playful spirit with a loyal heart. Her intentions are always good and her kind nature hides the raging tempest within. DO NOT MAKE MAD! Sthenos learnt this lesson the hard way (more on that later). As unpredictable as the waves, in a battle she puts her caring side away until more appropriate occasion arises. Suren and Rein are good friends and work well together considering Siren's elemental capabilities.

Sthenos: a sorcerer; great x2 grandnephew of Daijun Morphose. His name means strength and, despite his comedic role in the group, he is a source of strength in the tougher times. He takes his duty seriously despite his oddly timed joking character. Will never back down from a fight and won't hesitate to stand up for those who cannot fend for themselves. Slightly reckless and tends to crack jokes at the oddest of times – thereby irritating afore mentioned elemental. Like a brother to everyone in the group.

Kedan: an aura moulder; great x3 grandnephew of Koram the Conjurer. Kedan is the oldest and was literally raised to be a Carer and so is the natural leader of the group. He is the voice of reason and the one the others look to for guidance. His brilliant mind makes him an excellent tactician and it shows when he takes charge in a tight situation. Aura moulding is a rare and mostly unknown ability. With it he is able to track, sense presences, and manipulate his surroundings. It enables him to read people and their moods. Down side: sometimes he senses wondering spirits and there's no controlling Rein and Sthenos when they're at it. Siren remains a bit of a mystery to him.

Siren: an elemental and minor enchantress; great granddaughter of Galleus Dragos. Brought up by her mother on the fading Islands (Old Isles) and taught to control her gifts from a young age. Enjoys reading, writing and swimming (pretty much the only sport she does), Siren was called in by her father as his ultimate plan to stem/post-pone the destruction of the world. After the near-death experience, Siren trained with her great grandfather in the 'Old World' where she honed her skills before returning to the Old Isles once more to retrieve the people. She is close to the entire group and tries hard not to mess up (secret phobia). You can bet she'll always have your back.

Daren: unknown powers; great x3 grandson of Callan the Telepath. Daren is the newbie in the group. He was a game ranger on the Old Isles and was a close friend to Siren. He once wished that they could have been something more but we are yet to understand what kind of role he'll play in the group.

Sorry that this wan't a chapter update but the upside is that it wasn't an annoying note saying that I'm putting down my pen and discontinuing the story. Tell me what you think about the character low-down and if you want me to add anyone to it. Especially since some people are OOC. Tell me if I should bring in anyone else from the previous story or kill anyone off, K?


	9. Chapter 7: Together Again

Chapter 7: Together again

Atem's P.O.V.:

It was good to have her back. That's all that I could think of as we spent the night camping out in the woods. Siren used her magic to make a small landing and canopy in the pine trees.

"You know you kinda smell like cinnamon, honey and pine trees to me," Siren admitted with a blush.

I blushed and looked up at the opening in the canopy above them. "I – I didn't know t – that," I confessed.

She turned around and smiled at me. She leaned towards me and kissed my cheek and giggled. I rose an eyebrow questioningly and she blushed deeply again. "Well, it's just that…" she trailed off.

I sat up to look at her. "What?" I asked.

"When we kiss, your lips taste like honey," Siren admitted quietly, twirling a hair in her fingers.

I pulled the strand from her and cupped her chin. "Really?" I asked with a slight smirk.

"Um, yeah," she answered slowly, leaning upwards.

My smirk widened and I pulled her chin up a bit and pressed my lips to hers. This was the most tactful and sly way to taste her lips because I'd never really tasted her before. I was always too busy enjoying the fact that we were kissing and the bolts of electricity that shot through my spine. I recognised her scent as very much like the ocean or a meadow. It was flowery and fresh. We kissed for a little while before I licked her lips. She pressed them together tightly.

I smiled darkly against the kiss. I always won these little games but I welcomed the challenge. I let my hand trail down her jaw and neck. Then I traced her collar bone and ran my finger over her shoulder and traced the infinity figure on the round of her shoulder. Her lips quivered but they refused to part. I growled and changed tactics. I moved my lips from hers and I did something I hadn't tried with her before.

I bit her neck.

She gasped and I quickly kissed her again, ignoring my sudden desire to continue there and slipped my tongue into her mouth. I attempted to identify the taste but I couldn't recognise it. Normally, girls tasted like whatever lip gloss they preferred (mostly strawberries) but Siren didn't wear lip gloss so it was difficult to determine the flavour. There was definitely a chocolaty taste but it wasn't strong. There was a hint of something else, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe mint? The sensations of making out with her quickly overpowered my wanderings as the jolts of electricity and pulling in my stomach began.

I eventually pulled back so that we could breathe. I couldn't help but be reminded of the last night we spent together in my room back at the Corporation. It was just like this. We went for a swim then sat outside looking at the sky. We showered and she fell asleep in my arms. This night was going the same way.

We watched the stars and I showed her the constellations. I called her Aries and she shoved me and complained playfully that she is in no way anything like some stinky, burly, hot-headed god of war. I laughed and she called me a cow because my star sign was Taurus. I looked offended and thought of a way to get back at her. Of course then she pushed me off of the branches we were lying on.

I turned in mid-air just in time to catch my balance as I landed on my feet. Siren smiled down before she jumped down too, landing softly, barefoot on the soft grass. She slipped on her pumps and pulled her cloak over her shoulders and I slipped on my boots and jacket. As we were walking off, Siren suddenly stopped and reached out her hand. A vine stretched from the boughs of the tree above us and dropped my leather collar in her open palm.

I touched my neck in surprise. I remembered removing it earlier and I shook my head in disdain at my forgetfulness. Siren giggled; no doubt she knew exactly what was going through my head. She took a few steps closer and stood on her toes to kiss my cheek as she pulled the collar around my neck and fastened it comfortably, her finger tips lightly brushing my neck.

I sighed and hugged her, "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Siren said. "I kept on watching you and, when I finally learned the dimension jumping thing I usually came here to watch you."

I smiled and took her hand as she blushed. We began walking back to her apartment. "I only knew that one time. I never even felt your presence."

"You weren't supposed to. I visited when you were sleeping."

"Oh…" I didn't know what to say to that.

We walked in comfortable silence. We were just content to hold hands and walk, simply revelling in the proximity. I squeezed her hand as we reached her old apartment and she took a deep calming breath.

"Brace yourself," I whispered.

"I'm just glad we're together again," she said as my fingers touched the door knob. "Besides, it went well enough earlier." There was a lilt in her voice that gave away her worry and a look in her eyes that made it seem like she already knew what was coming.

"Well, they were in shock; the realization must have properly sunk in by now so we'll see different responses, possibly ones we never thought we'd see. And I'm more than glad that you're back. I'm ecstatic and flamboyant and thrilled, delighted, euphoric and all these emotions are just so overwhelming that I almost can't breathe. More than anything I think I'm just relieved that we're together again. I don't have to worry that I'm delusional or that you aren't…" I trailed off.

She took my hand, "Let's go irritate the hell out of everyone."

I nodded and smiled at her and opened the door to all our friends and family.

So that's the end of that chapter :) Finally managed to catch up a bit but I swear University is sucking up all my creative mind juices X_X Not cool...

The upside is that Chapter 8 will be up as soon as I finish chapter 9 =D which is, thankfully, going very well. Please review, I have a lot of silent readers but I guess that's fine though

Next chapter Siren meets ...

Not telling you ;-P


	10. Chapter 8: Reunion gone awry

Chapter 8: Reunion gone awry

Siren's P.O.V.:

We walked into the house hand in hand and I immediately felt the stares of everyone in the room fall on me. I took a deep breath and shifted all my weight to my right hip and waved at the room smiling.

"Hey people," I said cheerily. "What's up?"

There was a deafening silence as everyone continued to glare at me, the relief and joy from earlier gone as the realization came to them. I had been alive all this time and hadn't made contact with anyone. I felt Atem shift his weight awkwardly beside me then everyone turned their glares to him and I got annoyed.

"Hey! Please don't blame Atem for anything! He had no idea until this afternoon and nobody has any right to judge him. Until this afternoon he was searching for something that may not even have existed. You know, nobody was supposed to know at all! That stupid shadow creature got released so I had to reveal myself and then Macarm Elda went and opened his mouth and decided that everyone should know! If I had it my way, you guys would still be thinking that I'm dead!"

Atem breathed in shakily beside me and I squeezed his hand. He was hurt by that last comment but it was the truth, something that I'd gotten a new found appreciation for. Everyone started screaming at once. Then my mother stepped forward…

…and slapped me…

"How dare you!" she screamed. "How dare you put us all through something like that? Didn't you care at all? Of course you didn't! Now you just waltz on in here and scream at us!"

"Mum, I…" I began quietly, uncertain of what exactly to do, she hadn't ever hit me.

"No! Don't you dare call me that! My daughter would never do something so selfish and inconsiderate!" she continued to yell.

I saw Rebecca step forward slowly, "Aunt Eleanor…"

"NO!" my mother shouted. "Don't be fooled by this trick like he has!" She pointed at Atem before grabbing him and yanking him into the room. "My daughter died at her father's hands, nothing more."

I bit my lip. Lord Koram's words suddenly came back to haunt me. 'They will not welcome you. The woman who always held so much weight in your heart will turn them on you. Only a few will stick with you after the reveal. I am afraid that it will happen sooner than you realize, my child, and I cannot help you prepare for it.'

I stared wide eyed. This was the part where I either ran and those who loved me followed or I stood my ground and watched my family be torn apart. I had believed myself to be strong. I believed that I would have stood my ground but now I was faced with the reality that I couldn't handle and desperately needed the comfort of absolutely certain love.

So I fled…

I raced to the one place where I knew that my arrival was expected. I ran all the way to the other side of the island, the wind speeding my flight through the desperation of my mood. I burst through the door to find my great grandfather, two grandfathers and my grandmother sitting in the kitchen. I through myself in my grandmother's arms and cried as she folded me in her embrace.

My mother's mother and father, Helen and Hayden, and my father's father and grandfather, Allaran and Galleus, crowded close and hugged me tightly. We sat like that and awaited the arrival of my friends. I heard the door open and the hug broke, leaving only my grandmother holding me. Suddenly, I felt a familiar embrace hold me and draw me away from my grandmother.

Atem held me tightly and I clutched onto his shirt, my tears beginning again. I felt more familiar arms enfold me and I continued to cry for a while before pulling my head back to see who it was. I don't know when or how it happened but we were now in the lounge next to the fire place. I turned my head and saw Yugi and Rebecca and their children, Daren, Serenity, my Aunt and Uncle, Thain and Angel, and a face I'd never expected to see.

"Kaiba?" I said, mystified.

"Hey," he said smirking.

I blinked and tilted my head in a confused manor and Atem smiled at me, "You look cute when you do that."

I rolled my eyes and hit him playfully. Then sniffed and looked down, "I had hoped that Mai…"

They all looked down sadly. "She took your mother's side," Seto informed me sadly.

Mokuba hugged me, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, sweety," I said. "I was sort of expecting this; it just hit me really hard."

Serenity held my hand and Rebecca hugged me. Yugi smiled, "Hey, I'm still here. I'm the best friend so only I really matter."

I laughed and hugged him tightly. "Of course, I mean why would anyone else matter when I have my bestest friend with me?"

Yugi laughed and he introduced me to his kids. "This is Jaden, Atem's his role-model," Yugi rolled his eyes, "and this little one is Rose."

We all sat down on the hearth and they told me that Seto and Atem had had a long talk and that he was a 'good guy' now and I told them about the ancients and my new found ability as an enchantress. They gawked over it and Atem rolled his eyes, finally understanding the reason why he became my friend so fast. Meanwhile, the other Ancients and Carers had arrived. When the stories were over I looked up and noticed them. I stood and hugged Koram Elda. He held me and stroked my hair.

"I tried to warn you, child," he said quietly. "I'm only sorry that I could not better prepare you."

"I know, thank you," I whispered back.

I let go and Rein, Kedan and Sthenos hugged me tightly. I pulled them towards the others and did the introductions thing. We all sat together and everyone got along really well. By the time it was midnight and grandpa Galleus chased us to bed, everyone had become very good friends. Atem refused to leave and instead laid a sleeping bag on the floor of my room.

And that's only because Grandpa Galleus insisted on it.

I went to the bathroom to get ready for bed and came out wearing my black satin pyjamas. They were long sleeves and button-ups because the night had suddenly turned cold and rainy (I didn't do it). I took a seat on the window ledge and looked outside at the ring of houses. There were six of them, one for each Ancient's family. In the centre was a round training area with a garden circumference where the kids played or the teens camped out or the older ones just relaxed.

Atem hugged me and I jumped in surprise before hugging him back. He led me to the bed and we sat there together. He just held me. That was all I really needed after that absolutely awful reunion. I fell asleep in Atem's arms.

I knew, of course, that the sleeping bag would go unused tonight.

Really short and kind of buggy. Sorry about that. I just felt that a confrontation was necessary, especially since my mother would probably murder me after finding out that i was alive but had never contacted her -_-'

Let me clear up on Koram's premonition. Koram Elda is a sorcerer! He conjures spirits to perform his bidding and uses them to fuel his magic so he's a bit of a mystic. He's not a seer, he's just solemn and insightful.

On a lighter note - how about that Kaiba hey? I couldn't leave the twit on the dark side ^_^


	11. Chapter 9: The Morning After

Chapter 9: The Morning After

Siren's P.O.V.:

"WHAT is going on here?!" Atem and I jolted awake and I reached for my pillow.

Then my eyesight adjusted and I groaned and fell back onto the bed. Yeah, I'm such a morning person. "Go away…" I groaned.

I heard Atem chuckle softly behind me and I figured that she was talking about how he was on my bed. Yeah, on not in; Atem's a 'not under the covers till wed' kinda guy with me all of a sudden. So I stretched and, for the sake of my Grandmother, I pushed him off the bed and onto the sleeping bag.

The pickle pulled the duvet.

My grandmother smiled in satisfaction and walked out of my room saying, "Breakfast in an hour."

I got up and yanked the duvet out of my sleeping boyfriend's arms (yeah he falls asleep fast after a hectic night) and wrap myself in it. Half an hour later, I woke up from my short nap, threw the duvet onto the person in the sleeping bag and walked drowsily to the bathroom to get ready for breakfast.

As I exited the bathroom 5 minutes later, now thankfully more awake, I noticed that the room was absolutely clean. The little neat freak sure worked fast. Was he even in the room when I woke up? I walked down the stairs, hoping that there was still food for me. Upon entering the kitchen I quickly grabbed a plate, a stack of pancakes, and a slice of toast and hijacked the syrup from Atem, who gave me an annoyed look. I pulled tongue at him then happily munched my breakfast while everyone else talked.

Then I choked on my toast as the face I knew belonged to the ass who tried to kill me appeared in the doorway.

He shook his head at me and I recomposed myself before speaking, "Good morning, Seto, did you sleep well?"

He rolled his eyes at me, "Good morning brat, yes I did."

"Oh sure, you're the spoilt rich kid and I'm the brat."

Everyone laughed and Seto rolled his eyes before sitting opposite me, next to Atem. I winked at Atem and carried on eating. Seto was just putting a spoon of porridge in his mouth when he froze and looked over at me with a look of surprised curiosity on his face; probably just realizing that I'd used his first name.

"You have any idea how funny that looks?" I asked pointing my fork towards his face. Atem chuckled and used the back of his spoon to lift his cousin's lower jaw and tilt the spoon downwards.

But not before a loud 'CLICK!' and bright flashed captured the moment and, with a triumphant laughed, Mokuba scrambled out of the room. We all laughed and Seto carried on eating, now and then shooting a glance my way. Afterwards we all cleaned out the breakfast dishes and neatened up the house. That took up most of the morning.

A loud squeal of excitement sent me flying down the stairs and out into the central area faster than light. (LOL, I wished). Then I ran directly onto Rein, who was on her way to fetch me, and I only get this because she and I sumo slammed one another on the way out of/into my house.

"Ow," Rein said.

"My nose," I said.

"Hey get off of your arses!" Sthenos screamed from the training circle. "OW!"

"Don't swear!"

That last voice was new. It wasn't one of the carers and it wasn't anyone from the Island. But it wasn't unfamiliar.

I scrambled to my feet and hauled Rein up and we dashed to the main circle. There we found the Carers and Ancients laughing together at Sthenos, who was rubbing his head, and a girl with forest brown hair, slightly taller than me, and golden brown eyes.

"Solene!" I screamed, tackling her to the ground.

"Hey cuzzy!" she screamed back, hugging me.

"You're going to break my bones!" I half choked.

She laughed and let go, "Oops, my bad."

We pulled each other up and I took in her appearance. My baby cousin Solene was five years younger than me but still taller than me. She was broader built and had a rounder, happier face with almond shaped, yellow-brown eyes. My crazy cousin; we all knew she was a giant softie until she got moody. Then she was a force to be reckoned with.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Solene pouted at me, "Fine, next time I won't come to see you."

"I was just asking!" I said indignantly, then added, "Hey, where's your sister?"

"Hahaha, I know," she laughed at me. "She stayed at home, trying to fix something or the other."

I rolled my eyes at her and gave her another bear hug before dragging her inside to see Grandma – My mother's mother because she was mum's sister's daughter. We had a happy reunion then I introduced her to Seto, Sara, Mokuba and Atem.

"What's with the hair?" she asked.

Atem blinked and shrugged, "Don't know it's always been that way."

"Oh," she said. "I'm going to call you porcupine!"

I whacked her arm, "No, you're not!" I said while everyone laughed, even Atem.

"Ow, but why? Is he your boyfriend?" she teased.

"As a matter of fact," I said smiling, "he is."

Solene stopped and looked from Atem to me and back again. "Oopsy," she whispered.

Now it was my turn to laugh at her. Atem hugged her and she said, "Hello, big brother!"

'_Hyper child_,' I thought as I watched Atem blink and raise a single eye-brow at me. I smiled and shrugged before mouthing, '_Go along with it_.' I gestured with my hand before heading upstairs to change into my gear.

After locating my favourite black tank top and track pants I quickly scrambled into it I pulled on my hip satchel, strapped my dagger to my calf and tied my hair, expertly pushing 4 needles and a bobby pin into the high ponytail.

"Where do you think you're going?" the rich, deep baritone voice said from the door.

I turned and folded my arms before answering, "To train."

"Not like that," he answered frowning.

I sighed and walked back into my bathroom/closet and came out in a black T-shirt instead of my tank top. "Better?"

"Not really but it'll do," he said, shrugging and moving out of the door frame.

I huffed and walked downstairs (for the umpteenth time, seriously need an elevator or a slide) and back to the training circle where everyone was waiting for me. I shoved Solene from the back and she laughed at me. I winked and said, "So, whose butt am I kicking first?"

"Seriously?" Kaiba asked from the edge of the circle.

I turned to see him sitting on a bench with a disbelieving look on his face. "Yes, seriously. Why, think I can't take any of them?"

"As if we all haven't taken it in turns to whip each other's butts in training," Sthenos commented.

"You take it in turns?" Atem inquired.

"Yep," Rein said as I grabbed the chalk from Kedan and began drawing a box at the circumference of the garden. "We train in such a way that each person is pushed to their limit because we're all pretty evenly matched. We pair up at random. One person is attack and the other is defence and attack keeps battering defence at medium power so as to get the most stretch out of the training, they lose if the defence is too strong or if they inadvertently step out of the box. It's more like control and endurance training mashed together, I suppose," she ended, putting a finger to her bottom lip thoughtfully.

"Since its Daren's first time, he can just sit this out. I don't know if you three want to join in?" Kedan asked looking from Seto to Atem to Yugi.

Yugi smiled at me and said, "We'll sit this out, for now. But hey, if you guys decide to have a team match, I'm game."

I smiled widely at Yugi, he and I were completely in tuned to one another. On the other hand we were both also completely in tuned with Atem. I wasn't really up to trying to bond with the others. Maybe Rein...

"Hey! Pick a stick," Kedan said, shoving a worn hat under my nose. I plunged my hand into the tiny hat and pulled out a short blue stick. I looked around to see Kisara smiling at me, twirling the longer blue in her elegant, pale fingers.

The others all paired off and training began. Deciding that it was best not to drag the matches on, Grandfather took out his old watch and timed each match one and a half hours. Sthenos and Rein with Rein on Attack (that was hilarious) was followed by Solene on defence against Kedan (Solene's telekinetic but Kedan is stronger - older). Finally, Grandfather smiled at me and motioned to the front. I took a defensive stance as Kisara took up a readying attack position on the opposite side.

I smiled at her wryly, and she half smirked back at me.

"Oh boy," I heard Atem say.

"That," Seto said, "doesn't even begin to cover it."

Guys guess what? I relocated my writer's brain! So i finally updated it -_-. I'm ever so sorry but my exams were rather hectic. I don't know why i chose such a hectic degree - not that i don't enjoy it...

But I will try to catch up this story because it was supposed to be finished by the end of the year - yeah that's going well - and i was supposed to start world on the 3rd and last installment of the Forever series

Try to review please, even a weird emoji is fine THANX!


	12. Chapter 10: Kisara vs Siren

OMG! Finally done :) I'm so happy that i can post this soon. Hope you all had a great festive season! I am working on a speacial one-shot for this story for the new year tell me who you'd like to be in it. Pairing, geenral characters, genre whatever you think would be awesome. Remeber it's going to happen on New Years day! - ONWARD!

_Chapter 10: Kisara vs Siren _

_Third person's P.O.V.:_

_A dark, cloaked figure watched from atop a mountain crevice as the two girls took positions on either side of the make-shift training arena._

_"__Who do you think will win?" a girl's strong yet silent voice asked from the side._

_"__Neither will win, the training is set out so that nobody really wins but everyone develops," the lower gruffer voice came from the cloaked figure._

_"__That's stupid," his companion huffed._

_He chuckled at her naivety. She was far too brash to consider such subtle ways of growing power but she would learn eventually._

_"__Come," he called her. "Join me here and we shall watch this amazing match."_

_The two sat beside one another on the ledge and watched intently through their binoculars as the two girls took up their respective stances. They stood like that for a moment then the older one gave the start signal and the white haired girl pounced._

_A blinding jolt of white light hit the brunette full force. She had no time to jump out of the way; surely she had been wounded at least. But, as the smoke cleared, the brunette stood in a half crouch, her hands outstretched and the relatively small shadow shield dissolved itself. The white haired one attacked again, sending bolt after bolt of white energy towards the brunette. After those tactics failed, the girl switched to fire abilities._

_At the first sign of the fire ball the brunette's facial expression faltered slightly before shroud of steam formed between the girls a moment later. The grass beneath her feet was browned – dead from dehydration or on the brink. The white haired one took the steam cover as an opportunity and got in at close range before landing a blow on the brunette's stomach. She fell to the ground and coughed before an ice slate blocked the next kick._

_"__Looks like she's no good at hand-to-hand combat."_

_The man couldn't help but agree silently as he watched the white girl pound on slate after slate of reforming ice shields. Then the white haired girl backed up to the far side and the two spectators looked in amazement as the ground churned in a circular motion around the brunette, who sat in a meditative position. The brunette sat in that position and made absolutely no movements besides the steady rise and fall of her chest as she breathed steadily._

_The white haired girl had pulled her hair into a pony and stood with her hands balled into fists at her shoulders, like a mummy and, slowly, she began to transform. A tail appeared, her ears flattened out, glistening white scales took the place of her skin and before anyone knew it, a great blue-eyes white dragon stood in the clearing._

_The brunette made no move, nor did she give off any impression that she'd registered the transformation. The man's partner was on edge. This was taking too long, it was becoming boring._

_Slowly, silently she sent her smallest shadow that slithered its way down the ravine into the clearing and to the training grounds. She wanted this to end quickly and the best way was to exert a little manipulation to drag out a dragon's full powe – "OW!"_

_"__What the hell are you doing?" the hooded man hissed. "We are here to observe only!"_

_"__I'm getting bored just watching this, they're going to go on forever! OW!" she was getting tired of him now, she hadn't even had a chance to make sure the shadow reached its intended target or whether it disintegrated in the sunlight._

_"__The point is to OBSERVE. If we get discovered…"_

_"__Relax you old grouch. Look, they're at it again." She pointed to the clearing, where the large blue eyed white dragon was rearing its mighty head backwards and gathering what looked like its full energy for a devastating blast._

_"__She's dragon meal," his partner snickered._

_The man only watched, silently seething at his interfering partner, as the dragon gathered yet more energy for the full-powered blast - fire and light flickering around the edge of its face. The light and fire collected to a fiery white orb in its mouth before it exploded towards the brunette. The light was too bright causing the man and woman to look away for a minute to allow the last rays to dissipate and their eyes to readjust. _

_There was no way that the clearing could take that much attack power, the man thought to himself as his eyes readjusted to the fading light. When he and his companion finally looked back to the garden the brunette was standing facing the white haired girl. Her hands were coming down towards her sides as if she had just stretched her hands upwards and the entire clearing was completely untouched by the attack._

_"__Well, damn!"_

_But there was no time to admire the sheer impossibility of it all as the dragon, a girl once more, sent the brunette flying to the edge with another swift, fierce kick to the side. The brunette caught herself just in time on a rock wall that appeared behind her conveniently._

_"__That was very close," he commented quietly._

_"__But how is she doing it?"_

_They both continued to watch as the brunette propelled herself away from the wall as the white haired one punched it to pieces, sweat beading on her forehead. The brunette made it to the other side of the training-box and the rubble shot towards her fast, forming a wall between the two. The white haired girl shot a blast of fire at the wall, causing it to be blasted apart. The brunette just had enough time to lift her hands and block a punch but instead she leaned over backwards causing the white haired girl to pass directly over her..._

_...and over the line that marked the edge of the arena_

_The bell timer rang loud and clear_

_"__Well I'll be damned," the girl exclaimed silently._

_"__How interesting..." he said quietly before turning to his companion. "You're already damned but I see your meaning. I should kill you for your stupidity a moment ago but that was indeed interesting. She knew she wasn't good at close combat and so she used her positioning near the edge of the ground as a vantage point to make the other loose."_

_His companion was silent. "She's very peculiar. They obviously have some silent rivalry going."_

_"__Yet she wouldn't hurt the other. We've learnt a lot; it's time to report back."_

_His companion nodded and followed silently, sparing the brunette (who was now smiling and helping the other girl up) a final, strangely saddened glance before continuing into the shadows._

So what did you think about the fight seen? It's not my first as you know but I'd like to hear your thoughts.


	13. Chapter 11: And Cue the Rein

OK! Firstly, i had no response and thereby no inspiration for the special chapter (thanks everyone -_-) so that didnt happen. Secondly ,,, I'm so very sorry for the wait, 3rd year studies is killing me and there's hardly time to write but hey i have this for u guys so have fun. It's a little bit ... maybe dreary is a good word? Just a little bit of bonding and eansy weansy break from main story.

_Chapter 11: And Cue the Rein_

Siren's P.O.V.:

Kisara shook slightly and fell to the ground panting hard, sweat dripping down her face as she faced the aftermath of her own power.

"That was brilliant," Kedan said with a smile.

"Well done you two," Koram Elda said.

I beamed at them and helped Kisara up. She took my hand and I pulled her to her feet and she dusted herself off shakily. I brushed the remainder of the rubble aside and fixed the garden back as well as I could, which was pretty damn good considering that we'd damaged everything.

"Seriously though, Kisara," I said whilst sealing the hole where my rock shield had sprung from. "You could have incinerated everything!"

"Sorry," she panted whilst bashfully rubbing the back of her head. "I guess that I got a bit caught up in the moment."

Seto chuckled softly and kissed the top of her head, holding her waist to support her. "Well, thanks to you, everything is exactly how it's supposed to be."

I bit my lip and was about to answer him with an honest 'I have no friggin idea what the nuggets just happened' but my head spun and my vision clouded. I lost my balance on the even ground and fell backwards straight into Atem. He pulled me close until I regained my balance and my breathing evened.

"You ok?" I heard him ask, his smooth voice laced with concern.

"Yeah, just feel a bit dizzy," I reassured him. My tummy grumbled softly and I laughed. "A little bit hungry too."

"Only a bit?" Kedan asked incredulously. "I'm starving!"

We all laughed and headed to 'my house', Atem and I trailing in the back, him stopping me from kissing the sweet floor; Seto doing the same for Sara a little ahead of us.

"Are you sure that you're –"

"I'm fine, just a bit dizzy," I cut him off with a small smile. He pursed his lips and I sighed. "Actually, I have no idea how that shield got so big. Forget that, I don't know how I made it," I admitted in a whisper.

We stopped walking and he sighed, "I know how you did it. You and I put up a shield almost at the same time and they merged."

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"If I hadn't then the entire field would have been torn apart. You know that. But…"

"But what?" I pressed him.

"Mines only went up after yours. You were holding up pretty well but your grandfather gave me this death look so I reinforced yours."

"So it was me in the beginning?"

"Yes."

"HEY! Hurry up you guys or we'll eat all your food!" Kedan yelled.

Atem and I laughed and entered the house together. I carefully made my way upstairs and into the bathroom for a hot shower and a small power supplement (basically sugar concentrate with a magic boost) and put on fresh clothes before joining everyone for a late lunch (14:32!). The talk was, of course, about the training. I zoned out as I drowned in my food – which I usually did do, so that the only thing I was doing was enjoying the flavours. That is, until –

"Yeah, what was with that face, Siren?" Rein asked.

Uh-oh. "What face?" I feigned.

Atem frowned, recognising the very slight change in my tone indicating the lie. He put down his fork, food still attached, and looked at me. Rein caught this and pressed me.

"You know, that face when the fireball almost burnt through your face."

The whole table was quiet, waiting for my answer. "Well, you see…"

"Oh, lemme guess, for a moment you registered the full effect of a dragons power and it freaked you out?" Daren suggested.

Oh boy, this is NOT good, I thought, wishing for a random and spontaneous event to take place and put me out of my misery. The world didn't feel like obliging me.

"What's up with you?" Rein asked. "Are you suddenly afraid of fire or something?"

"No…" I whispered slowly. Atem's eyebrows creased and Seto and Sara zoned in on me. Rein blinked in surprise and my very slow, silent answer. "After the incident –," I hesitated and shot a glance at my dad, who had joined us for breakfast but sat as far away as possible.

"Go on," Rein motioned.

"I kind of lost my fire ability," I whispered.

I tensed as Daren did a spit-take and Atem and Seto visibly froze up. Rein took a step back and my dad winced and his head fell in anguish. My grandparents already knew but even they looked sadder at the mention. The others gasped audibly and Yugi, on my other side, gripped my shoulder, his panda eyes wide.

I wanted to cry again but I bit my tongue and pinched my thigh. I swallowed my tears and looked up with a determined look. "You guys look like some terrible calamity just happened. This isn't a funeral house. I'm fine with it. I learned to live with it and, honestly, now that there's less abilities for me to think about I can focus better on the ones I still do have. So pike up and buck up. I refuse to live with you guys like this. I know happier vampires."

That got some people laughing. Slowly everyone got back into their normal happy moods. Atem gave me this, we'll talk later look that I nodded at.

Rein, on the other hand, was looking like she was about to burst. I finished eating and stood, gesturing to her. She followed me out. She was feeling hoarding, never good. Her mum had recently died, Sthenos was laughing about everything, part of my power was missing and Lord Tearim was getting sicker – she needed a break.

We stepped into the yard and walked to the training circle. I stopped at the edge and faced her to see that she had stopped at the other edge.

"Let it out," I said calmly, my hands relaxed at the side.

Her fists clenched, head bowed, tears streaming quietly down her face, she took a step forward and a second at light speed. M y arm came up to block the kick. I stepped and ducked her next move. It continued this way. Kick – dodge – punch - block – dodge…

We moved this way for a while, slowly her attacks gaining strength, my defence getting steadily sturdier. It eventually started raining and we were still going. Her attacks began to come faster until we were battling full out. She used the rain to give her force in the way I used it to keep me steady. We began to throw aside the defence-offense positions and were trading blows as if a battle for our lives were occurring.

We let out our sadness, despair, pain, loneliness, confusion, loss; every last bit of it drained out of us and into the movements. With each punch we let out anger, each kick was despair, every drop of rain washed away our pain…

I became aware of our audience and also of our weakening blows as the rain began to slow to a drizzle.

When the rain finally stopped and even the drizzle faded away, we lay collapsed together, side-by-side, on the drenched grass. We were panting, exhausted from the intensive work out.

Eventually, slowly but surely, the last negative feeling ebbed out of me and a small bubble of laughter burst out of my lips as the relief sank in. Soon I was laughing properly with Rein joining me soon after the first spurt of laughing.

We lay there like that until the laughter subsided and we realized that everyone was standing in the houses watching. Everyone except for –

"Are you alright?" Atem asked from beside me as he helped me upright.

I nodded and smiled a genuine smile at him and watched as he gave me the sweetest smile I had ever seen him ware in my life. He hugged me and kissed my forehead as I glanced at Rein to see her being helped up by her boyfriend, Akrab. He nodded at me and I smiled back.

We were helped up and made our way back into our homes with our boyfriends supporting us. Atem helped me to my room and into my bathroom. I kicked him out and had a hot shower (3rd time today people), praying that I wouldn't get sick. I couldn't but help think that maybe she wasn't the only one that needed that session. We both needed to let it out and let it go.

Atem brought supper up to the room for me. I made him eat half of it because we just eaten lunch a few hours ago for goodness's sake!

I got into bed and immediately fell fast asleep. Somewhere in my subconscious I felt Atem kiss me softly and couldn't help but think I was lucky enough to still have people that cared about me. I should be happy if only for that.

TADA! I'm sorry this is all my brain could do at 3 in the morning on a coffee high post Seemster tesst


	14. Chapter 12: Alone-Time

How's this for an awesome surprise?

**SURPRISE! **2 Chapters on the same day! It is now 6:30 am and i am going to bed haha

P.S. This is for all you Seto Kaiba lovers out there :) I figured we needed to give him a moment there'll be another one a bit later. This is getting a lot longer than i thought it would be...

Chapter 12: Alone-Time for a Buzzing Brain

Seto's P.O.V.: … (This is new)

I'll never understand girls, I thought as I looked at my nightstand for the 37th time.

22:52

The entire household was asleep but, despite the calmness of the soft pattering of the rain on the sill and the silence of the house, I just couldn't sleep.

Frustrated and annoyed I threw off my covers and walked to the bathroom. After washing my face a few times I dressed and made my way down stairs as quietly as possible, which was going well until the last stair –

_CREAK!_

I winced as I almost fell off of the stairs in shock. Silent cursing myself I turned toward the door only to find myself face-to-face with my brother and cousin. Mokuba was looking at me confused and concerned, Atem looked like he was trying not to laugh. I really wanted to smack that smile off of his face but then I realized how stupid my almost fall must have looked and internally shook my head at myself.

"Are you alright, Seto?" Atem asked.

I looked up and stared at Atem, slightly surprised. "Yeah, I'm alright," I said. "Just managed to creep myself out, that's all."

Mokuba smiled in relief and Atem shook his head with a small smile before asking me again, "Are you ok though?"

"Couldn't sleep," I replied with a shrug.

Atem nodded as if he understood the cause behind my restlessness and Mokuba's face became concerned again. Atem nodded to the door, "Take a walk. It'll help you mull things over."

He chucked a slightly damp umbrella at me. I looked at him quizzically and Mokuba smiled, "You weren't the only one who couldn't sleep."

Curious, I walked toward the door they were standing in, which led to the kitchen. Akrab and Yugi were sitting at the table with mugs of what smelt like hot-chocolate in their hands. A plate of half-eaten nachos and a bowl of guacamole were set on the table. I shook my head at the 3 of them before ruffling Mokuba's hair.

"What about you, kiddo?" I inquired.

"Um, I just got here a few minutes ago. Kinda had a nightmare," Mokuba whispered sheepishly.

I hugged him to my side while the other 3 men smiled at him softly. Yugi patted the seat next to him and Akrab stood to make another cup of hot-chocolate.

"But seriously," Atem said from beside me. "I know what's bothering you even if you don't. Even though it differs for everyone, Akrab and I have been through it already. Some alone time will help you clear your head."

I looked down at my cousin to see him make his way to the table and sit down opposite Mokuba. Shaking my head, I made my way to the door. I unlocked it and, opening my umbrella, I stepped out into the rain.

I had been walking for a while. The cool air was helping my head, which had been buzzing since earlier, to calm and clear a little. I hadn't even realized that my usually collected brain wasn't at ease. The cool night air entered and exited my lungs at a steady pace as I reviewed the previous day (it was definitely passed midnight by now).

I didn't understand it. What was bugging me so badly that I couldn't even fall asleep?

Was it the way that the other 2, Rein and Siren had carried on a few hours ago? No, that may have been what was bothering the other 2 but it really didn't affect me at all.

Think, Seto, use that brain of yours: breakfast, Mokuba, Yugi, Atem, Jaden, training, Sthenos, Solene, the Ancients, Siren, Rein, Akrab…

… Kisara …

That's what it was. Of course, how could it be anything other than the woman who could make his heart race from naught but a single thought? To think that she had that much capability – Kisara was a DRAGON shifter and not just any dragon, _his _dragon from the card game they all used to play as kids. Although that didn't seem completely correct. Was it just her sheer power that was driving his brain over-board? She could have destroyed the entire clearing (or half the Island) with just that one blast.

I had talked to her afterwards. She had said that she didn't know why she poured that much power into it; she had described it as if somebody had been encouraging her to pour more power into it. But the point was that she had that much power in the first place. If that was what she was capable of what was he? As her boyfriend I always felt that I should be able to protect her even though she was the family protector originally. She obviously didn't need protecting, especially not from him.

I had stopped in a clearing somewhere in the forest. I felt my fingers curl until my hands clenched into tight fists and my fingernails were digging into the skin. I could feel blood leak out of the small cuts and trickle to the ground with the rain drops. My umbrella lay to the side forgotten. A sudden feral growl had me turning my head so fast that my neck cracked. A darkling about 6 feet tall with broad shoulders and bug-like red eyes was blinking out of the trees at me.

A howl from the other side caused my attention to shift only to view yet another 3 or 4 darkilngs leering at me from the trees all similar to the other one. Thunder cracked in the sky and, as if it were a signal, the darklings leaped out of the trees at me. I was oddly calm as they ran at me. I could feel something else, like a stirring in my chest. Lighting crackled above head and I felt my own unused magical power spring to life from inside me. It warmed my insides and the rain water sizzled and evaporated off of skin as energy surged through my veins. I felt alive for the first time in forever as I spread my arms to either side, my finger spread…

… and lightning flashed from my fingers, dancing towards the darklings in the rain. Colours flashed as the light caught off the rain drops as the electricity caught hold of the darklings and instantly electrocuted them.

They fell to the ground, smoking and unidentifiable before bursting into black ash. A tingling feeling in my spine had me turn to face a feral snarling from behind me. The Dog-like darkling snarled at me and pounced forward. I felt a soft tingling above me and raised my hand instinctively. A sudden charge of electricity shot from the sky down towards my hand. I grabed hold of the lightning and hurtled the bolt toward the darkling hitting it square in the chest as it jumped. I stepped aside and its body crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

Suddenly tired I sat down heavily on the sopping wet grass and ran a hand through my hair, combing away little flecks of static. It had been a long time since I had used my powers. I had forgotten how _alive_ I felt.

A slow clapping brought me out of my reverie. I looked towards the sound to see Siren coming out of the trees, 2 umbrellas and a jacket in her hands. It took me a moment to recognize one as the umbrella I'd had with me when I left the house… when?

"How long was I out for?" I asked as she handed me the jacket, holding her umbrella to shield me from the rain.

"A while, Atem said you left at around 11 last night. It's now," she checked her watch. "6 am, so you've been walking around in the rain for about 7 hours. You're pretty far in. That was very impressive by the way. Almost sexy," she commented with a smile.

I snorted as I took the other umbrella from her and opened it up, "Thanks."

She laughed, "No really, I'm being serious. Wish I could've recorded it for Kisara."

I rolled my eyes at her, secretly thankful for the lack of cameras. "Why don't you use your powers for a shield?" I asked instead

"Pfft, that would be lazy and unnecessary," she replied. "Come on, the house is this way."

I let her lead me to the house. About an hour later, we arrived at the main clearing. Everyone was hanging around the doors and windows. When we got closer, one of the doors flew open and Kisara ran to me. I held her in a tight embrace, despite the soggy clothes. Siren entered the house after smiling towards us. Atem held the door for her and we made eye contact. He raised an eyebrow at me and I nodded and smiled softly at him for the first time since we were children. His face softened as he called us into the warmth.

Siren handed me a cup of coffee and some food and we sat around the fireplace, Kisara and Mokuba pressed close. Atem, next to us with Siren, closed his eyes and sighed – he had been worried.

When that realization hit me, that I really still had a family, for the first time in a long time, I felt whole.

"Thank God Seto," Kisara murmured.

"I'm sorry I worried you all," I said softly, the words weird as they stumbled form my lips.

"What I don't think I heard that?" Siren teased.

I rolled my eyes and she received a light whack from both Atem and her grandmother. She pouted and Atem looked at me, "Did you figure it out yet?"

I nodded. I had locked away my past in order to secure what I thought was my future. In doing so, I had let myself become a target for greed (I resisted the urge to hug Mokuba for the incident in California so long ago). Now when those powers were necessary, I had felt helpless because I couldn't find a reason strong enough to get me to use my magic again.

Kisara was my reason. Mokuba was my reason. And, despite everything, Atem and Yugi were my reason too. My family

Huh, No way in hell was I going to admit any of this out loud. "Don't try to get too sappy with me Atem."

Atem chuckled, "Of course not Seto. I would never dream of it."

He gave me one last knowing look before relaxing into his recliner.

I shook my head and did the same, finally sinking into a deep sleep.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! (hack hack cough)

Pass out


	15. Chapter 13: Last-minute

So How did it go Seto lovers? Anyway looks like our heros are in for a spot of trouble but hey that's next chapter's story. Here's a short one i managed to pique your curiosity

Chapter 13: A Last Minute Addition

Third Person J (hello readers):

"We have to go WHERE?"

"It's the ONLY PLACE LEFT!"

"I don't care! There's no way in HELL that we're going all the way to –

SLAM!

Siren bolted upright at the sound of a door being slammed shut. Then groaned and flopped back onto the bed.

"Good morning, beautiful," a deep voice murmured softly to her before soft lips brushed over her cheek.

"Good morning," Siren mumbled back, her eyes fluttering open to meet the deep amethyst orbs of her boyfriend. She smiled sleepily at him as he moved some hair away from her face. "How long have they been at it?"

"A while, actually," Atem replied with a shrug. "I'm surprised you didn't wake up sooner."

"Who's screaming anyway?"

"Your dad and Kisara are arguing over who's going to go to Transylvania to help with the evac."

Siren sat up slowly and folded her legs before looking at Atem. "We could go."

Atem chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. He really didn't want to go back there after the way things had turned out the last time but, "I guess we could do it," is what came out of his mouth.

Siren smiled softly, "I know what you're thinking and honestly I'm a lot stronger and more seasoned now. I could take that Bewilderin with a hand tied behind my back."

Atem smiled at her. He knew that she was a lot stronger now – they both were. It had been a week since Siren revealed her lack of Fire powers and the rediscovery of Seto's magic. Everything had been going smoothly until the Ancients had gotten word that there was still a small community of magic users besieged somewhere in the mountains of Transylvania. The last 24 hours had passed planning the best route of evacuation for the people there and the plans were almost complete. The only problem was: Who was going to go fetch them?

"It's been a while since it was just the 2 of us," Siren's words chimed through my contemplation.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, "Yes, but going to Transylvania isn't exactly what I had in mind for our alone time you know."

Siren smiled, it was a statement, not a question. "Yes, but those people are out there and they need help. Also I need to get away from my mother for a while."

Atem sighed, yes, Ms Hale had been in and out and around and any other directions throughout the area for the entire week. At first it was ok; her mother did live there after all. After a while it became obvious that she wasn't just visiting her mother, she was scouting out Siren.

Atem sighed as he remembered her managing to practically stab him with the kitchen utensils twice and dropping a whole bucket of wash water on him as he passed under the bathroom window. "Maybe we could both use a break from your mother."

Siren laughed in understanding. "So then you go tell them that we're volunteering and I'll go shower."

Siren hopped out of bed and kissed Atem on the head before heading into her bathroom to shower while Atem stood and quickly set the bed before heading downstairs. The screaming had stopped but the tension in the living room was so heavy you could probably cut it, braid it, tie one part to a tree and the other to a ton of rock and throw the rocks off of a cliff. Maybe it was an exaggeration but you get the picture.

Atem took a deep breath before stating, "If you haven't found anyone to do the evac yet, Siren and I will take the mission."

Everybody's head snapped up to look at me and I winced subconsciously.

"NO!" It was Hamthar that spoke. "Absolutely not! You are NOT taking my daughter to –"

"Actually," said Lord Galleus quietly. "That's perfect. You and Siren both have many contacts among the vampires there. You could probably find them and get out quickly."

It took everyone a moment to register that before something else clicked in Atem's head. He looked at Hamthar, fighting a small smile from sneaking onto his face. Hamthar met Atem's gaze before looking away to stare at his father. It was the first time that he had ever referred to Siren as his daughter.

Meanwhile everyone had started talking all at once over the sudden declaration and the ease with which it was accepted.

"That's enough!" Lord Galleus practically yelled. "If none of you will go even if you have been selected then I see no point in turning down any volunteer. Atem and Siren will go to Transylvania to rescue and evacuate the citizens being barricaded in their village in the Transylvanian Alps. Atem, you and Siren will be debriefed in 2 hours," he stated with finality.

The roomed fell into a chagrined silence as everyone avoided one another's gazes. Kisara bit her lip and looked out the window where Seto was training with Daren in the centre of the gardens. The two weren't on the best of terms but they were good sparring partners. They worked best when Kedan watched over them, like he was doing now. The problem was…

"It's just too son," Kisara murmured as she watched them. "Everyone has their hands full."

Sthenos nodded, "There's no doubt that he has the potency to be very powerful. He's just so rusty that he's practically a novice. There's definitely no way that Daren is combat ready. Kedan can't go since he just about mentors both of them. Not to mention they'll probably kill each other if he's not supervising them. I can't go coz I've got no partner and somebody has to tend to all the minor details."

Rein scoffed at him. "I work all the minor details too you know and I work them better than you do. The problem isn't that you have no partner just that no can stand you enough to partner with you."

"I'd partner with him," Atem said with a shrug and offered a small smile at Sthenos. Sthenos gave an appreciative nod while his brain tried to find an effective come-back. He and Rein never got along; they were always at each other's throats.

Rein rolled her eyes at the duo. The same day that Seto had rediscovered his powers the two had made a discovery of their own – Atem could use sorcery. Sthenos had taken it upon himself to help Atem and the two had become fast friends. It was so strange: Sthenos was the joker and Atem was so serious most of the time but they got along really well. The entire setup baffled her.

"So why can't _you_ go then Ms I-do-all-the-work?" is what Sthenos finally settled on.

Rein rolled her eyes. _What lame-ass comeback_, she thought.

"Firstly, I DO do most of the work around here. Secondly, none of you have the capability to look after Tearim elda, who's getting sicker might I add. Lastly, my partner is OOA as of last week thanks to somebody's incompetence and I can't work with any of you," she concluded.

Sthenos shifted uncomfortably. Rein's partner (her older brother) was out of action after he saved Sthenos from a large and unusual darkling. A broken arm, dislocated shoulder and a few fractured ribs left him unable to do any missions.

"Aw Rein, I thought we do pretty well in a team," a voice said from up the stairs.

Everyone looked up to see Siren coming down from her room. Rein smiled and rolled her eyes at the younger elemental. "Yes but that doesn't change the other reasons."

"I know," Siren replied with a shrug. She walked into the kitchen then came out to the dining room not a minute later munching on a slice of toast. "But don't you guys think that it's strange. All of a sudden, after a whole week silence we're getting a report. We were supposed to have evacuated everyone and only the vampires were left and they'll be here in about 2 days. Suddenly there's an entire village cased up in the mountains."

There was a moment of silence as everybody thought this through. The last evac was in 5 days. Allowing just a few days before the end of the month – the allotted dead-line (remember guys the world was ending in a month when Atem and co got to the island). It was a safety precaution. So Atem and Siren only had a max of 5 days to be back.

"We can do it. It's last-minute but we'll get it done," Atem said from beside the window.

Siren swallowed and smiled, "You're damn right we will."

Gotta lover her resolve am i right? So as you can see i'm trying to write a little more and a little faster but hey the upside is this is a near apocolypse (sp?) earth so i can do whatever the heck i want with it. For the rise of the Gaurdians lovers... a short story coming up soon!

For my loyal reader... You guys rock! Somebody send me a request i need a stimulant...


	16. Chapter 14: Plus 1 and Green Eyes

Chapter 14: Plus one and Jealousy

Siren's P.O.V.:

Ok so we were debriefed last night – that went well. It was an extremely brief debriefing since there was little to no information about what was going on. Vampires were going to come in to the Island while we were leaving, except for one who was almost here already. This one was going to accompany us and assist us on the mission. We were leaving in a few hours, my dad having given us use of the Magnesius Corp private jet to get us there. I looked over to Atem on the other side of the large paved area that was used for plane landings. He was pretty far away but I could just make out his figure talking/standing with his brother and Sthenos.

I smiled and looked over at Rein, who was doing a jog around the field, her hair in a high pony tail, her sleek limbs moving almost effortlessly on her 2nd lap – she was taking it easy. I looked back up at the sky and inhaled deeply before looking behind me to the nearest edge of the field. The Ancients were standing in a circle, conversing quietly in some ancient language. I sighed softly and looked towards the small jet that we were going to use. I didn't know Atem could fly a plane until that highly obnoxious and cocky smirk I sorta loved adorned his features this morning when I asked how we were going to get there.

_Cocky, proud, arrogant, obnoxious, stubborn, slightly temperamental…_

For some reason I decided to tick off all my beloved boyfriends worst qualities in my head. Maybe I was trying to remind myself that I wasn't in love with the bloody Prince of Egypt. Or maybe I was having fun poking at his bad side in my head.

I looked around again, bored out of my wits, when suddenly a bolt of electricity struck the ground right beside me.

I looked over my shoulder at Seto, "You missed."

He rolled his eyes at me, "I wasn't trying to hit you."

"Oh," I said. Then smiled, "In that case mission accomplished and thanks for not frying me."

He shook his head while Mokuba broke into laughter. Atem appeared at my side and I looked up at him to see a half-concerned half irritated look on his face. He put a hand on my shoulder, looking like he was going to tell Seto off. I quickly jumped in, "Hey, maybe when we come back you can train with me. I may not have a gift for fire anymore but," I smiled and lightning struck the ground next to Seto, "I love a good storm."

Seto smirked at me, "Sure but a when we do then you're going down midget."

I laughed and Atem shook his head. "It's alright," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He sighed and brushed my hand away only to take it up in his. "It's just so strange. Ever since you brought him back that day, you two have been getting along very well."

His face was straight, his eyes concentrating on our entwined hands (he was playing with my fingers) but I could hear a hint of something else in his voice. Concern? Confusion?

"I guess so," I said, putting my free hand over his hands. "I figured we'd reached some unspoken truce or something. It's nice to not be arguing all the time, especially with your family."

"Hmm…" was the only response I got.

I rolled my eyes and cupped his chin in my fingers like he'd done to me countless number of times, "Hey."

He looked at me, his eyes locking on mines. I felt like I could see the depths of his soul through his brilliant amethyst orbs. I could see concern and worry and, though I was still trying to process it myself, maybe a hint of jealousy. "Yes?" he asked slowly, still the same tone, unblinking.

"I love you," I said simply, placing my forehead against his (he was bending over a bit)

He smiled, "I love you too." His tone was different now, a normal self-certain tone.

I pecked him softly on the lips as our fingers twined together. He placed another soft kiss on my forehead and we walked over to the edge of the field to sit on the benches near Rebecca and Yugi. We were soon joined by Seto and Kisara, then Mokuba. Mokuba sat playing with Jaden and Rose while we talked of lighter topics.

A sharp breeze from where the ancients sat had us all turn to their direction. The Ancients were staring at us, except Macarm Elda who was waving energetically. I really loved that old man, from the bottommost part of my heart. We all made our way over, Atem and I in the lead. We weren't hand-in-hand but we stood very close to one another. I could see grandfather eyeing us but I could also see, just behind him, a figure in a dark cloak. Was this the vampire that would be joining us? By now the sun was down and the light around the air field were lit.

We gathered and Galleus elda introduced us to the newcomer, "This is the man that will aid you on the mission. I've been told that he's known to you both."

I cocked my head to the side as the figure removed his hood. Then I stood there blinking momentarily, "Alexander?"

"Heya, Siren. Long-time no see. I'm really glad that you survived the bewilderin," he said with a warm smile. Then it fell to a saddened expression, "I wish I could've protected you better."

"No, you and your family did a lot for me," I said taking a step forward and putting my hand on his literally cold shoulder. "I admit I almost didn't make it," I continued with a laugh.

He looked over me at Atem. "So you're not as much of a good-for-nothing as I thought. Not as much of a soulless bastard either, apparently," he practically growled.

My hand fell and I took a step back, glancing wearily between the two. _Oh boy, this can't be good._

Atem's cold smirk wheedled its way onto his face, his eyes icy and almost hollow looking. "That makes two of us. Of course you actually are a soulless bastard aren't you?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Ooooh boy," I whispered, drawing out the 'Oh'.

"Is it really necessary that he comes with us?" Alex spat.

Atem rolled his eyes, the cold look still on his face, "Come now Alexander, surely you're too old for such childishness. Suck it up."

I winced at the bad vampire joke, as Alex's gaze shifted to Seto. "Well, well, if isn't the resident psycho who hired vamps to kill off his family. Nice to see you again," he said, his tone sarcastic and dripping with acid.

I face palmed quietly in the background of the exchange as the glaring ensued: Atem and Seto at Alexander and him at the duo at once. The others watched quietly, my grandfather taking in every detail.

I leaned in beside Macarm elda, "I can feel the chances of success dropping by the second." He chortled quietly while his tactician's brain clicked and whirred in its wizened case. _The chances of me slapping them both upside the head are increasing though. Damnit we're going to miss the window. _Is what I thought.

'_Then perhaps you had better give the two power houses a kick start and get going, hm?'_ came a voice that wasn't mines but in my head. I glanced at Callan eda to see him jerk his head towards the fuming males. All the guys were not happy to see a vampire in their midst.

"Ehem," I cleared my throat, reminding myself of my least favourite pink character in a book series I'd read as a girl. "No offense but we have to head out like right now. "

No response. _Hard way it is…_ that thought wasn't just mines.

My fists clenched tight at my sides as I allowed energy to seep into me from my surroundings. I felt everything around me all at once: the birds soaring through the air, small worms and ants crawling away home, the trees swaying softly, the clouds floating overhead, thee grass crunched under my feet, the life force of the people around me.

I felt the energy trickling into me, not unlike the first gulp of cold water after a long day without a sip; it flowed into me and released a cool tingling sensation into every fibre of my being. I collected it at my core and allowed it to spread to the surface of my body before releasing it all at once in a surge that had the trees howling and the birds flying for the open sky, petals from the Jacarandas blooming somewhere in the forest swirled around the air field before everything settled down.

I opened my eyes and sort of felt them glow lightly. "That's enough. If we don't go now, we'll miss the window for today and we'll have to wait for tomorrow to leave. This is our best shot to get in and out fast enough to save people. If you two want to stand there staring each other down, I'll have Kisara or my uncle Thain fly me in solo."

That seemed to have done it because everything passed in a blur after that. We immediately started packing small equipment and first aids into the plane. Alexander refused to let me carry anything, to such a point that Atem would hand me something only for Alex to snatch it from me. After that it was goodbyes, our family waving as we took off. Alex and I sat together for a while making pleasantry. We talked about his family and how they were doing. He told me about the new addition to his family: Isabella, a girl his father had turned, and little baby Nicholas, his little half-brother.

"Isn't it against the rules for non-members f the royal family to have half breeds?" I asked, tilting my head.

Alex nodded with a smile, "I'm pleased at your knowledge of the laws. You surprise me. Yees, it is illegal for halflings out of the royal family, however, my father is the royal advisor and the King's brother so it's actualy still in the bloodline."

"You're kidding me? You're the Vampire Kings nephew?" I asked in astonishment.

He laughed, "Yes, I use the surname Raven but that's my mother's name. You can guess my father's surname I'm sure."

We went back and forth like this until Alex left for the front where Atem was.

One minute I was telling them off and the next instant I was on the plane, chilling in a seat with a pillow behind my head. Atem and Alex were quiet in the front of the plane. I closed my eyes and listened for any signs of bickering but there was nothing but the soft whir of the plane.

"Hey, Alexander, take over for a minute," I heard Atem ask.

To my amazement, Alex could also fly a plane. There was a small noise which I took to be an affirmative because a moment later there were footsteps.

"Hey, beautiful, you asleep?"

"You know I'm not, yet you still ask," I murmured, eyes still closed.

He chuckled softly and his finger traced the side of my cheek. "I don't ever want you to scold me like that again," he whispered.

I laughed quietly, "Embarrassed."

"No, just a little disappointed in myself for pushing to that."

He was twirling my hair in his fingers now and I finally opened my eyes and turned to look at him. He was looking at me with that strange expression I had seen earlier that evening when I had been talking to Seto. "Is something bothering you," I asked.

"As straight forward as always," he chuckled, shaking his head. Then he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I continued to watch him as I waited for his answer. "I don't really know how to deal with this. Whenever I see you getting along with them I feel…" he drifted off.

"Yes?" I urged.

"Pained," he finished with a grimace. "Especially just now with Alexander. The two of us never really got along, I guess we have some silent truce going on at the moment because of you, but now I feel like I'm competing with him for you. No," he corrected himself, shaking his head. "I see him talking to you and feel like banging his face in the wall, pulling his head from his miserable body and setting him alight."

"Wow, a bit violent," I joked smiling. Then I shook my head and shifted a bit away from him. He glanced at me from the corner of his eyes and tugged his hair, bringing his head down gently to lie on my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair softly before lightly massaging his head, his hair running through my fingers like silk. He released a sigh then a soft moan at the same time as I felt a light clicking sound whilst I pressed the base of his neck. I leaned down and kissed his cheek softly.

"Firstly, you really need to relax more," he chuckled lightly. "Secondly, I find it kind of cute that you're the jealous type," here I felt him roll his eyes at me. "Lastly, you have nothing to be worried about," I said this softly, reassuringly as I kissed his jawline. "You are the only one for me and I will always love you, I promised you these do you remember?"

I felt him relax a little while he remembered and so I continued, "There's no one else in this world or any of the others that I would rather be with. You, with every one of your flaws, are the one I love. After all we complete each other. If it will make you feel any bed, I could friend zone their butts as soon as I have my next conversation with them."

He laughed at the last one and turned so that he was looking up at me. He cupped my cheek and I held his hand there. "Thanks."

That's all he said and that's all I needed. I knew he was going to be ok, as I watched him stride back to the pilots seat. I took out some of the gear and started sorting out the packs.

All that was left was to rescue that village

_'Better pack extra',_ I thought riley with a half-smile on my face, _'just in case it's a trap.'_

_Ok so a bit on Alex: ALexander Ethranos Raven is actually my childhood imaginary friend. I decided to have him resurface in my stories randomly every once in a while :)_

Hope you guys haven't given up on me yet !


	17. Chapter 15: Camp, Food, Mutant Bear!

Chapter 15: Camp, Plans, Food, Mutated bear… WHAT?

Author's P.O.V.: (T'sup readers?)

Siren sighed happily as she stepped off the medium sized private jet. She stretched her legs and looked over her shoulder to see the boys getting out of the jet and taking in the scenery. Atem and Alex had managed to find a small, reclusive clearing for them to land in that was pretty near to the target area but far enough that they could avoid prying eyes.

Siren eyed them suspiciously; they had been very quiet the rest of the trip (which was only a few hours) and it worried her a little. Alex's pulsing dark aura had fizzled down to more of a shimmer and Atem's moment of mistaken eye colour looked like it had passed (jealousy – green-eyed – work with me here!). She shrugged it off before heading back in to fetch the camping gear. They had just gotten all the necessities of the jet when a cracking sound had 3 heads snap to the side as they looked for the source of the sound. A small squirrel looked around and bound up the nearest tree. They released a collective sigh.

"Ok, now that we are over the demon squirrel, let's set up camp," Siren declared, clapping her hands together.

Atem chuckled lightly, "I'm sure we'll have worse than demon squirrels on our hands soon."

Alex rolled his eyes, "The squirrel is not a problem, the big guys are out there and I rather we remain alert than making pointless banter."

Siren snorted and rolled her eyes, "Well then Mr Vampire, you can walk the perimeter and look for bad guys while Atem and I set up camp. I'm hungry and that usually means he's double the amount of hungry."

Atem shoved Siren playfully and she knocked him on the head with a peg from the tent. Alex stared at the pair in hidden amazement. Siren ignored the stares and began to pull open the side of the jet. Atem, also ignoring Alex, began to help her. Alex continued to watch as they pulled the flap open, revealing a small hollow space. Atem then proceeded to open out the table and set up the map with pins while Siren pulled out a few food stuffs.

Alex walked over and picked up a marker, watching Atem out of the corner of his eye, and drew a perimeter around the area they were in. Atem placed a pin in the position where the jet was.

"The perimeter is a bit big," Atem said, thoughtfully considering the area.

"My barrier covers about that much at its smallest. It was created to shelter large areas not small units so that's the size I can cover," Alex explained.

"Well, you can't check it on your own, one of us will go with you."

"OK, you start here at this end and I will go from this end. We can set up the rune markers as we go whilst walking clockwise," Alex said quickly, indicating 2 spots in north and south most parts of the boundary and not giving Siren time to volunteer.

Atem sighed, "Alright then. You know this mountain best so I will assume you know what you're doing. Let's begin."

Alex nodded and picked up the rucksack with his gear in it and headed to the north part of the perimeter. He was confident in his ability as both a warrior and enchanter to be able to set up the barrier solo but the fact that they were chided by Siren recently was still fresh in his mind. Not eager to let it happen again he just continued to his allocated area.

Siren just watched in mild amusement as Atem too picked up his backpack and, flashing her a quick smile, disappeared into the forest going the opposite direction. She shook her head at them; they were like children fighting so stubbornly they couldn't see that there wasn't a problem. Atem was doing his best not to worry about her and Alex was going out of his way to ensure that she didn't have anything to do. It wasn't difficult to tell who was getting on her nerves more.

Siren began to get a small, discreet fire going to make a soup (one of the few things she **couldn't** cook very well). As she chopped up a few veggies, she couldn't help but think that it would have been better if Atem had stayed to cook the soup (which he could do very well mind you) and make camp and she had gone to enchant the barrier. For a beginner, Atem was a brilliant sorcerer. There was no doubt that Atem was pretty much a genius but he was still new at it. She had experience in her enchanting and even specialized in voice and runes for barriers and coercion purposes. In fact, she was still praying that she wasn't going to accidentally poison them as she stirred the soup when a growl sounded from behind her.

Atem walked to the spot where he was supposed to start setting up the barrier in silence. The calm of the forest was nice for thinking and he soon found his active mind wandering. As his eyes scanned his passing surroundings, he couldn't help but wonder if Siren was doing ok setting up the camp. It's not that he didn't trust her to be able to do it; it was just that he was absolutely certain that Siren would have done a better job with setting up the barrier.

He figured he'd reached the right spot when he saw a small stream trickling through the area. Atem sighed and pulled his bag off his shoulders and began ruffling through it. He pulled out a stick of chalk, a piece of paper, and what looked like an empty pen. Putting his bag back on his shoulders, he knelt at the stream and dropped the piece of paper in. It turned a bright blue colour then bubbled into the stream – a sign that the water was safe. He kept a steady grip on the chalk he knelt at the river and reached his hand in to carve a ruin into the embedded rock. The place marked with the chalk glowed white before dimming to a darker shade of the rock it was on.

Happy with the thought that nobody would think to look for a barrier ruin in a stream, Atem continued walking clockwise. He came to a place approximately a good enough distance from the 1st ruin but the stream was nowhere near the place. He pulled the empty pen from his pocket and infused it with his aura. The tip glowed like dying ember and Atem knelt and inscribed a ruin into another nearby rock. He continued doing this until he went almost full circle, noticing the places where Alex walked and the area where he had marked his barrier.

He finished off the last ruin and was about to make his way back to camp when he caught site of something just outside of the barrier. Atem couldn't step out of the barrier without setting of an alert to the others. In order to not needlessly worry them, he used some sorcery to move a couple of branches out of the way, where they were obscuring the object on the other end of the stream. He stared wide eyed for a moment, the shock of the sight momentarily freezing him in place before he took a step back and ran into the tree cover.

First step into the shade, he allowed the darkness to envelope him and transport him back to the clearing.

Behind him, lying deserted beside the stream, a single human hand lay in the sunlight, still reaching for the water's edge.

Alex had walked deeper into the forest than he needed to.

He cursed silently as he backtracked to the place he himself had pointed out. Alex hurriedly placed a drop of deep crimson liquid in the place he thought was least conspicuous, muttering a small incantation silently and hastily continued to the next spot. Having memorized the map before-hand he knew what the best area for the ruin was supposed to be like and he walked faster to make up for lost time.

He eventually came to the stream where Atem was supposed to have started. He scanned the area for any signs of where the ruin was placed. Sighing because he couldn't find it he placed his marker somewhere discreet and continued forward. Not for the first time he wandered how far or close Atem was to him at that moment.

Alex shook his head. This wasn't a race! He was supposed to be putting up a barrier so that their camp was safe! Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Alex kept going until he marked all the appropriate places. Once he reached the starting point he decided to relax for a moment. The sun would be up soon, so he'd be pretty much useless. Meanwhile the light was Atem and Siren's element, though Atem had proven that he did pretty well in the dark too.

Alex shook his head at the thought: a part elemental and part sorcerer. What the hell?! Next thing they were gonna tell him he was a conjurer and dragon-shifter to boot! There was no way this guy was so insanely powerful. If Alex hadn't known any better, he would have thought Atem was either a heartless bastard (apparently he'd changed) or a buffoon (the way he carried on around Siren, I mean come on!). This was the prince of Egypt? The Saviour? If that was true they were all doomed.

Alex had originally thought that Siren had been the saviour. She was an immensely powerful elemental and with a few more years of training they would have turned her into a great warrior. His mother had had a different idea of course.

"The Guardian," Alex whispered to himself.

The Guardian of what exactly? Was she the guardian of the world or the Hero? Maybe she was supposed to be the Guardian of the Ancients or maybe some age old secret, long driven from the memory of the living. Either way he still wasn't happy about any of it. He cared greatly for Siren and he could tell that Atem cared for her greatly too. It was also painfully obvious which one of them Siren cared the most for…

Alex sighed heavily and decided to return to camp. Compared to where Atem had had to start his circle, Alex was a bit closer to camp and the path was clearer. He placed a few wards along the path to the camp. What he saw there left him wandering exactly what his heightened senses were for.

Atem rolled out of the darkness to find a blue barrier in front of him. He quickly skirted around the edge only to find that it didn't expand the clearing, only the area in the immediate vicinity of the jet.

_'Siren,' _Atem thought with a sigh. Her first priority was to secure the means of escape but where was she. His eyes scanned the area only for his vision to become obscured by a line of dust.

"Hiya, nice of you to join me," Siren greeted as the sand she had skidded through cleared away.

Atem followed her line of sight, "Shit!"

What stood before them was a bear. Or at least it used to be a bear, judging from the shape and features. It was easily the size of a small house, its fur a muck-like brown green colour. Its teeth were elongated as were its claws. What looked like pure rock adorned its back, spikes sticking out about a hand's breadth from one another.

"A Mutation or tainted?" Atem inquired, settling into a fighting stance.

"I didn't have a chance to ask but I'll make a note of it the next time I go to tea with it," Siren responded. "We can check when we take it down, why ask?"

Atem knew all the signs of Siren's 'battle personality' by now but it was still interesting to watch her go from childish to serious to sarcastic warrior almost automatically. Eyes still on the bear, which was observing them coolly from a little ways away, he replied to her, "To determine what will kill it best. If tainted, only light, fire and air will work. If mutated then we have no clue as to whether the mutation is only a physical aspect or…"

He trailed of but Siren got the message, "Then let's test it. I'll go first and then you, and we'll hit it with one thing at a time."

"Just don't overdo it," Atem warned.

Siren nodded before she sprinted forwards. A few steps before the bear she disappeared from sight only to reappear above. With a wave of her arms she sent 2 blades of air slicing into its back. The bear roared in pain as it became shrouded in dust and Siren came down, her hands glowed brown as the dust formed a solid rock and collided with the bear. She leaped out of the dust a few seconds later.

"The spikes are gone," she said. "But I think I only really succeeded in making it angry."

Atem watched the dust cloud for a moment. "Move!" he commanded.

He shoved Siren to the side and propelled himself away as the bear charged right passed them. It was definitely faster than a normal bear. It turned towards Atem and growled, its eyes were dark burgundy red. It charged towards Atem and he stood his ground. At the last second, Atem's hand shot out and grabbed the muzzle of the bear, forcing its head into the dirt and propelling himself upwards. He inhaled deeply, hoping that Siren had seen that the bear bore signs of darkling taint, and gathered all the heat he could master into his lungs. He blew forth a long stream of fire.

On the ground, Siren _had_ noted the red eyes and even some blackening along the cut she had managed to make - the blood, darker than the normal colour, killed the grass where it fell to the ground. It took all her willpower to not yell at Atem when he wouldn't move out of the way and even more willpower to not remain staring in surprise at the hellish dragon fire he let loose (she could feel the heat from where she stood and she was a good 20 meters away from them).

Siren brought her hands together in front of her, cupped outwards, "Illuminescence!"

A beam of pure white light shot towards the bear and collided with it seconds before the fire reached it. Siren watched it in slow motion: the light reached the bear and wrapped around the creature engulfing it in the light. The blood from the cut lightened and the teeth and claws receded slightly and the eyes cleared out. Then the fire collided and normal speed returned to Siren's world.

She closed her eyes and shook her head to regain clarity before running to where Atem was kneeling. She put a hand down to grasp his shoulder and almost pulled back from the contact. His skin was heated. He took her hand as he stood and blew out a line of steam from between his lips.

"Where the heck did you learn that?" Siren demanded, slightly put off by the sheer amount of cockiness he had inadvertently used when blowing out the steam a moment ago. "That was way beyond the max 60 degrees that the human body can handle."

"Kisara and I were experimenting with it a while back," Atem replied sheepishly but not guiltily. "She figured that some dragon shifter blood runs through my veins plus my heat resistance from being able to control fire. So the 2 of us experimented until we came up with what you saw just now. And Illumenescence?"

"Um, part enchantress, remember," Siren said, pointing to herself.

They shook their heads in unison and Siren surveyed the clearing for a moment. The place wasn't in too bad shape considering that she had battled the bear (more like played bull-fighter with it (bear-fighter?)) for about 5-10 minutes before Atem got there. As her eyes passed over the space where the bear's ashes were, the ashes began to swirl until they dispersed to the wind and Siren swore she could see a person stand there translucently before wind blew through the clearing, the grass and trees renewing.

"Wow," Siren whispered. "A forest guardian… tainted?"

Atem blinked at her in confusion but Alex decided to walk in at that moment.

"Right," he said. "Barrier, check. Camp, check. Supplies, check. Mutant bear, check. Now let's go rescue those people before that demon squirrel returns shall we?"

YES! I did it! I posted a chapter during Semester tests! Next achievement: post chapter during exams!

Love ya, leave ya!

BYEEEEE!


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